
to-Zffi 7//, 

Book * A & H* _ 






THE 

POPULAR ANTIQUITIES 



OF 



WALES. 



! 



WIRT SIKES, 

UNITED STATES CONSUL ]| 

CABDIEF. -WfttESv. 



THE CAMBRIAN 



POPULAR ANTIQUITIES; 



AN ACCOUNT 



OF SOME 



TRADITIONS, CUSTOMS, AND SUPERSTITIONS, 



OF 



WALES 

WITH 

OBSERVATIONS AS TO THEIR ORIGIN; 

Sfc. $c 



■y 



ILLUSTRATED WITH COPPER-PLATES, 
Coloured from Nature, 




- 



BY PETER ROBERTS, A. M. 

RECTOR OF LLANARMON, VICAR OF MADELEY, AND AUTHOR OF 
COLLECTANEA CAMBRICA, ETC. 



LONDON: 

PRINTED FOR E. WILLIAMS, BOOKSELLER TO THE DUKE 
AND DUCHESS OF YORK, No. n, STRAND, 

1815. 



% 






^ v 



Printed by W.Clowes, 
Northumberland-court, Strand. 



TO 



THE REV. DAVID HUGHES, D. D, 



PRINCIPAL OF JESUS COLLEGE* 



OXFORD, 



W&t$t I&ZVCIMW Of 



CAMBRIAN ANTIQUITIES, 



ARE INSCRIBED, 



VERY RESPECTFULLY, 



BY THE EDITOR, 



X/^ifcwfkh W. 



INDEX. 

PAGE 

INTRODUCTION I 

Translation of Higden's Description of Wales 5 

OS Welsh Customs 7 

Of the Wonders of Wales 10 

Of Druidism 15 

Of the great Druidical Temple in Britany 48 

Of Druidic Circles 51 

Of Stone Pillars 56 

Of Merlin, the supposed Magician b7 

Of King Arthur , 81 

Festival of Shrove-tuesday 110 

Lent 112 

April-day 113 

May-day 117 

Easter 6 . . .„ 122 

Whitsuntide , 125 

Wakes 128 

Hallow-eve , 12$ 

Christmas , . .... 1 3 \ 

Of Interludes.. ., .136 

Of Welsh Music , \A 

Marriage Ceremonies , 1 5| 

Of the Corpse-candle « 169 

Of Burials . ... t 17& 

Nature, Manners, Dress, Boldness, Agility, and Cou- 
rage, of the Welsh, from GiraMus .- 179 

Superstitious of the Welsh from Ditto 180 

Staff of St. Curig 1 89 

Sacred Bell, called Bangu 190 

Sacrilege punished , « I9I 

Of Fairies 1 c£ 

Observations on the preceding curious Account 195 

The Fairy Song. 202^ 

Superstitious Dance at St. Almedha's Church, near 

Brecknock, from Giraldus 205! 

Ditto continued #....,.,.,,,,.,,,,.,,, , , , ,207 



VI INDEX. 

PAGE 

Divination of the Blade Bone from Giraldus 206 

Llechlafar from ditto 207 

Maen Morddwyd in Anglesea, from ditto 208 

Eagle of Snowdon from ditto 209 

S lowdon Mountains from ditto 209 

Children fed with the Sword r 211 

Ancient Customs, from Lewis Morris 211 

Account of the City of Troy 212 

Crug Mawr ; or, Pen-Tychryd Mawr, in Cardiganshire 214 
Curious Grave near the Vale of Ayeron, in Cardigan- 
shire, from Giraldus 214 

Trial of Strength by Giants on Pen-Tychryd, from 

Giraldus 214 

Welsh Maen ; or Cock-lighting 216 

Popular Traditions 218 

Popular Tradition of Moll Walbee 218 

Rolldritch 220 

Cadair Idris , 221 

Of wearing the Leek 225 

Sortes Biblicse 228 

Curious Numeration 231 

Holy Wells 234 

St. Dwynwen's Well . . . .249 

St. Maddern's Well in Cornwall 250 

St. Wenefrede's Well in Flintshire 256 

Omens and Predictions 263 

An Essay on Astrology .270 

The Bow of War and Peace 301 

Addenda 304 

Tern pie at Carnac •• 304 

Addition to the Account of St. Almedba 306 

Method of Reaping 311 

Addenda to the Essay on Astrology 313 

Mary Thomas the Fasting Woman, near Dolgelley. . . .317 
Game of Knappan • t 33 1 



PREFACE. 



The following tract on Popular Customs and 
Superstitions of Wales, was drawn up at the request 
of Mr. Williams, the Bookseller, who has published 
my former works relative to Wales, whose obliging 
attentions had a claim on my endeavours to gratify 
his wish. 

In undertaking the work I soon perceived, that 
after what Brand, and others, have published on the 
Popular Antiquities of Britain, many of them were 
common to Wales and England, and on these it did 
not seem necessary to dwell. Many others which, a 
century ago, were known, have now grown nearly 
obsolete; and a neglect of them, now prevalent in 
England, is no less so in Wales. As to such as I have 
been able to collect, it has been my object to investi- 
gate their origin; and, I hope, the observations on 
them will not be found unsatisfactory, or destitute of 
information. 

I here beg leave to return my respectful thanks, for 
the advantages I have had in the use of books from 
the valuable library of Miss Ormsby, of Parkington. 
I have the pleasure of gratefully acknowledging, that, 
wherever I hare applied for information, what could 



■— 



Vlll PREFACE, 



be given, has been liberally granted. I have only to 
add, that it is now my intention to proceed with the 
Collectanea Cambrica, and to repeat my acknowledg- 
ments for the favour with which what I have already 
published has been received. 

P. ROBERTS, 



INTRODUCTION. 



** HEN, from political or other causes, the manners 
and customs of a nation have, in general, undergone a 
great change, an inquiry into what they have been in 
former ages becomes interesting, not only as gratifying 
curiosity, butfreqently as the means of dispelling doubts, 
and confirming ingenious conjectures, or probable as* 
sumptions of the regular historian. In that part of his- 
tory more especially which regards the origin of nations, 
the inquiry, when applied to popular customs and tra- 
ditions, is perhaps of more importance than it seems to 
have been esteemed ; for it is very observable that what- 
ever be the variations of modes and customs in the higher 
and middle orders of any nation which preserves a toler- 
ably distinct existence as such, certain traditions, super- 
stitions, amusements, and forms, will be maintained here- 
ditarily, without even a knowledge of, or respect to, their 
origin, but merely as customary by the lower order. For 
such a pertinacious and general adherence to many of 
these, it will not be easy to account on any other prin- 
ciple than that they were first impressed on the minds 
of such nations respectively, when they originally became 
a regular society , icith an established form of religion 
and government, Others must be referred to later cir- 

B 



2 INTRODUCTION". 

cumstances readily discerned ; but in those which are of 
the greatest antiquity there is much, that, when developed? 
may help to ascertain what were those principles of reli- 
gion and policy which formed the character of the nation, 
and what was the state of the nation itself at different 
periods, though, at the first view, apparently trivial, and 
as such passed over unnoticed, or only incidentally alluded 
to, by the writer of history. Such are the ceremonies 
of April and May Days, St. Johns and AUSaints y Eves, 
the rude circles of large stones, the total absence of all 
imagery, the vestiges of seats of justice, and places of 
•worship on high places. These are circumstances, which, 
being of the highest antiquity, may properly be referred 
to that state of society in which it existed when the 
Britons separated from the general mass of mankind, 
and took a western route as a distinct colony, carrying 
with it a certain, though not an accurate, tradition of 
the deluge, a memorial of ceremonies indicative of the 
chronological epochs of the most important primaeval 
events, and a religion, which, though not purely Noachic, 
was not yet contaminated by idolatry. The sanctity of 
high places seems to have had its origin in the necessity 
of choosing such for large assemblies when the low lands 
were covered with wood, which, without the use of iron, 
could not be cleared ; and consequently the antiquity of 
the performance of religious rites in such places would, 
in those of later times, when the assemblies could take 
place in other situations, inspire that religious reverence 



INTRODUCTION. 3 



for them which could not with facility yield to new insti- 
tutions. To a kind of necessity originally may also be 
attributed the practice of putting captives to death ; and 
I think more justly than to a ferocious principle, though 
undoubtedly the practice became such. When, after a 
victory, either the victors or the vanquished must have been 
famished, the alternative of the destruction of the enemy 
would no doubt be adopted by the people of a country, 
which, producing a scanty supply, exposed them to it. Its 
becoming a religious ceremony was the usual course of 
ancient customs of a public nature, of which this is one 
of the most horrid instances. 

Of the perso?is, temper, dispositions, and manners of 
the Welsh, the description given by Giraldus Cambrensis 
is equally applicable at the present day. In their dress 
there does not appear to have been any thing in his time 
which particularly disti?iguished them from their English 
neighbours in similar ranks of society. Their dress and 
manners, when known to the Romans, have been so often 
detailed as not to need any repetition of them in a work, 
the object of which has been chiefly to notice and illustrate 
particulars, which, though in some degree known as tra- 
ditional, have not already been so treated of as not to 
admit of farther explanation. 



B2 



POPULAR ANTIQUITIES, 



OF WALES; 



Translated, from the doggrel Latin Verse of RALPH HlGDEN, into 
doggrel English, 



OF THE NAME OF WALES. 

THAT which now is Wales by name 

Was erst called Cambria ; and Fame 

Says 'twas from Camber, Brutus' son, 

A king who reigned here long agone; 

And Wales from Gwala, Ebroc's daughter, 

Who, quitting York, a dowry sought here. 

Though others state, as their opinion, 

Since Gwala here once had dominion, 

'Twas from his name. It matters little 

Which, when neither name will fit ill. 

Though less than England, 'tis as good 

In flesh and fish, in soil and wood. 

The beef is good, the mutton better ; 

If England can produce such, let her. 

The fertile valleys rich with corn 

Woods defend, and flowers adorn, 

And streams enrich, which, from their fountains, 

Roll down between the lofty mountains : 



POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 

Beneath their covering of green, 

Of coal, or ores, spreads wide the vein, 

And lime, now used by artists well in 

That precious article, a * dwelling. 

At feasts they've honey, milk, and cheese, 

Bread and stout ale, and more to these, 

Which here abound, the land produces 

All for life's pleasures, or its uses. 

But, as so much exceeds my plan, 

I'll say as little as I can. 

This nook o* the world seems to my mind 

As if by Providence design'd 

To keep its last best stores in savour, 

And be its wallet-end of favour. 

Where Tivy flows its winding tides 

North Wales from the South divides ; 

Or, in the Latin tongue, so please ye, 

Venedotia from Demetia. 

South-Wallians glory in the bow, 

Northerns with spear assail the foe. 

Three courts had Wales (though 't not so now is) 

Caermarthen, Anglesey, and Powis. 

Its bishops too are now but four; 

In better times it had three more, 

And princes of its own could boast ; 

But now the Saxons rule the roast. 



* Literally in the joining of tiles for the roof. When the original was 
written, such roofs were but lately come into use. 



POPULAR ANTIQUITIES 



OF WELSH CUSTOMS. 



In dress, and other things beside, 
The Welsh and English differ wide:— 
A cloak and vest, and trowsers trim, 
The Welshman deems enough for him. 
Thus clad, he braves the wind and rain, 
Thinks more superfluous and vain, 
At home, abroad, for rest or labour, 
And scorns the foppery of his neighbour. 
His legs should wear no covering 
Even in the presence of a king. 
Whene'er the Welsh attack the foe, 
Their weapons are the spear and bow ; 
And better far they fight afoot 
Than sallying forth as horsemen to't 
Woods are their castles, bogs their walls ; 
For whichsoever th' occasion calls, 
To fight, or fly beyond a morass, 
Each way alike the foe they harass. 
A wight, who * bore the name of Gildas, 
Says, " On their faith we cannot build ;'* as 
Well it may be, we might have wondered, 
When they've so oft been robbed and plundered, 
Did they not every means essay 
To drive th' invaders far away. 



* This should be stole the name of Gildas ; for this was the fact. 
The writer was not a Welshman.— See Collectanea Carnb. Vol. I. 



8 POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 

But now the woods are all cut down, 
And forts at many a sea-coast town. 
This nation, never left in quiet, 
Could not be very nice in diet : 
Round flat oat-cakes, or cakes of rye, 
(Seldom of wheat,) their need supply ; 
With milk and butter, and square cheese ; 
Their vegetables beans and pease. 
Their iriuk is mostly ale or mead : 
Of wine they rather choose the red : 
And oft is heard a merry tale 
Inspired by mead, or wine, or ale. 
Their meals the better to embellish, 
Salt and a leek afford a relish : 
' And he, good man, the lord o' th 1 house, 
Thinks it his pride to dole lobscouse 
Till each one else forgets to fast, 
Then kindly serves himself the last. 
Their wicker dwellings stand full free, 
Nor press their neighbour's liberty, 
Like those in town, where every wall 
Jostles its neighbour till its fall. 
He, who has nought at home to eat, 
At his next neighbour's finds a treat: 
Then home returns, and, in requital, 
Will, when he can, his friends invite all. 
So wags their time, nor pines desire 
For ease, or sleep, or cheerful fire. 
When guests arrive, an offer meet 
Is made of water for their feet ; 
And, if they wash them, then they're right 
Welcome within to pass the night. 
So easy is it food to find, 
The purse is mostly left behind : 



POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 9 

■ j i i ii ■ i i i i n i mm 

Yet do they comb and money hurdle, 
If they have money, in their girdle. 

****** **** 
At feasts full merry is the throng, 
With harp and pipe, and dance and song : 
But at their funerals they sound 
Goats' horns, to warn the country round. 
Their origin from Trojan blood 
They boast, and think none else so good. 
Of pedigree so fond they've been, 
A hundredth cousin's near of kin. 
But, though their patriotic pride 
Looks down on all the world beside, 
Yet to the clergy of their nation 
They pay respect and veneration ; 
And such obedient reverence shew, 
As they were angels here below. 
By Merlin's prophecies misled, 
To war alone they've long been bred ; 
But, since the Saxon quarrels cease, 
They learn the better arts of peace : 
Their fields are ploughed, fair gardens made ; 
They seek the towns, and gain by trade : 
They ride in arms, or walk in shoes, 
And polished arts and manners use. 
So like the English are they grown, 
Scarce is the difference to be known ; 
And hence we learn the reason why 
They've lived of late so quietly. 
They are grown rich, and fear their toils 
Would all be lost in warlike broils. 
The poet of satiric Muse 
Says, " He who nothing has to lose 
May journey on with merrier mind 
Than an armed knight with purse well lined/' 



10 POPULAR ANTIQUITfES 



OF THE WONDERS OF WALES. 



Near Brecknock is a noted lake 
Where plenty of good fish they take. 
At different times its colour varies; 
And they who view the lake's vagaries 
See in it now a garden green, 
And now a town adorns the scene ; 
But, when the frost has overcome it, 
Strange sounds are heard to issue from it. 
If the true Prince of Wales come there, 
And bid the birds his right declare, 
At his command they blithely sing, 
But heed no other prince or king. 

There is a hill near famed Carleon, 
Which if the sun but dart a ray on, 
It shines like gold : hence Goldcliffe hight : 
But, if there's gold, 'tis not in sight. 

Off Cardiff is an isle of yore, 
Called Barri ; on its northern shore 
A cleft, to which apply the ear, 
And wondrous sounds you'll straightway hear ; 
Now like the blasts of mighty bellows, 
Now like the strokes of Vulcan's fellows ; 
Now like his grindstone, now his furnace, 
When making, for Achilles, harness: 
Yet, after all, 'tis but sea- water, 
Perhaps, that makes this hideous clatter. 



POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 11 

Much worse, alas! near Pembroke is it, 
Where daemons pay them many a visit, 
Hack and befoul their Sunday clothes, 
And ail the secret ills expose. 
Daemons no monk can exorcise, 
Nor saint's great toe kick outwardise ; 
When all the mischiefs they are brewing 
Are presages of war and ruin. 

On Craigmawr-hill there's a sepulchre, 
And whosoever lays his hulk there 
Finds it exactly fits his length, 
And, if he's tired, recruits his strength. 
But armour laid on't over night 
Is found next morn in shattered plight. 
In North Wales, and not far from Nevin, 
Is Bardsey Isle, which monks do live in ; 
And live and die with such decorum, 
All see their elders go before 'em : 
And here likewise, as 'tis averred 
Was Caledonian Merlin buried ; ' 
For 'tis believed that Merlins two 
Have had with prophecy to do. 
Th* one, imp-begotten, near Carmarthen, 
Ambrosius called, like evil star, then 
Foretold to Vortigern his fate, 
His subjects' and his children's hate* 
And his dire end : and, having so done, 
Lived snug amidst the rocks of Snowdon, 
Near Dinas Emrys, where the king 
So anxious heard him say or sing. 
The other Merlin Scotia claims, 
Conspicuous in a brace of names, 
Sylvestris called, or Caledonius, 
The first, because like one felonious, 



12 POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 

He shunned mankind, and roved about 

In woods and forests, wit-without. 

For once in battle, as 'tis said, 

An airy spectre turned his head, 

And he grew wild ; yet his prediction 

In Arthur's days, sans contradiction, 

Is much more plain and much more clear 

Than those of t'other Merlin are. 

In Snowdon there are hills so high, 

They seem like step-stones to the sky, 

And, tho' you toil without much stop, 

Scarce in a day you'll reach the top. 

These are the pastures; here the fountains 

Have formed two lakes between the mountains, 

In one of which an island floats, 

And bears about the sheep or goats, 

Which, while it rested near the side, 

Fearless the seeming main-land tried, 

And, when the wind had proved it free, 

Wondered to find themselves at sea. 

The other lake yields many a dish, 

Like * Mulwell Lake, of one-eyed fish. 

Near Rhuddlan ebbs and flows a well 

Twice every day. Why ? None can tell. 

In Anglesey f a curious stone, 

Like to the human thigh, is shown, 

Which, though it carried be, by day, 

From its own station far away, 

Has of itself such skill and might, 

It comes back safe again at night. 

Hugh, Count of Salop, as I've read, 

Once took it gravely in his head 

* In Scotland. 

t Maen Morddwyd, 



POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 13 

{'Twas when first Henry sat on throne) 

To try thp powers of this stone : 

So with another like it matched, 

And to it by strong chain attached, 

Tho' both into the sea were thrown, 

This the next night returned alone. 

A clown, who had the wish to try it, 

Thought proper to his leg to tie it : 

Ere morn the stone had homeward hied 

And the clown's leg was mortified. 

There is in Wales a rock far famed ; 

The Rock of Listeners 'tis named : 

'Tis such, that if, upon one side, 

The trumpet's loudest blast rings wide; 

Yet on the other side, tho' near, 

This sound will not affect the ear. 

Not far from hence * an isle juts out 

O' th' sea, where dwell men called devout ; 

Hermits, who, though they should be brothers, 

Can sometimes quarrel too, like others : 

But, when they do, woe worth the while ! 

The congregated mice o' th' isle 

Rifle their hoards of beans and pease, 

Make bandboxes of every chesse, 

Forth through each hole their legions pour, 

And every eatable devour ; 

Till by incessant depredation 

They conquer peace, or make starvation. 

Here also, as on Irish ground, 

The f gloomy wanderer is found ; 

And th' holy men of either nation 

Are vengeful when they're in a passion. 

* Probably Priestholme. 

f Such as the Brownie of Scotland, 



14 POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 

In Scotland, Ireland, and in Wales, 

Rev'rence for bells and crooks prevails : 

And the oath ta'en on bell or crook, 

Is sure as that on holy book. 

At Basingwerk there is a spring 

Well known, whose stream astonishing, 

Soon as it rises, rolls along 

A river copious, clear, and strong ; 

So large, if other water fails, 

It may supply the whole of Wales. 

Sick folk, who hither bring oblations, 

Return with happy emendations. 

Within the fount, stones spotted red } 

Mark where her holy blood was shed, r 

When Winifreda lost her head. ^ 

He who cut off her head, however, 

And dared it from her trunk to sever, 

To yell like curs condemned his race, 

Till they seek pardon at this place; 

Or at the town of Shrewsbury, 

Where now in peace her relics lie. 



POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 15 



OF DRUIDISM. 



In a popular work of this nature it is 
not to be expected that a subject so ex- 
tensive should be treated of copiously, or 
that difficulties respecting it should be dis- 
cussed. The most simple, and perhaps, 
after all, the most satisfactory niethod that 
can be pursued here, will be to state con- 
sisely what has been related of them by 
ancient writers, and to add to this the 
substance of such farther information as 
may be derived from later researches, and 
appear necessary to the present purpose. 

The length of time that Julius Caesar 
had been in Gaul enabled him to acquire 
an extensive knowledge of the manners and 
customs of that country. In his descrip- 
tion of these * the following account of 
the Druids is given : — 

" They are the ministers and teachers 
" of religion ; superintend public and pri- 

* Commentaries, Book vi., of the War in Gaul. 



a 



a 



a 



16 POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 

" vate sacrifices. To them the youth in 
great numbers apply for instruction, 
and shew them great respect ; for, in 
general, they decide in all controver- 
sies, public and private : if a crime be 
committed, if a person be slain ; if suc- 
cession to property or the boundaries of 
" land be in question ; they determine the 
" case, and adjudge the rewards and 
" punishments. If any one, whether in a 
" private or public station, refuses to abide 
" by their award, they interdict him 
" from the sacrifices, which is their greatest 
" punishment; for the interdicted are 
" looked upon as impious wretches, and 
" avoided by all. No one will admit them 
" into society, or speak to them, for fear 
" of contamination, and are neither allowed 
legal redress nor mark of respect. 



(C 



" One Druid, who has supreme authority, 

" presides over all the rest; and on his 

P death, if there be one of pre-eminent 

" estimation, he succeeds. If several of 

" equal pretensions, the successor is elected 

" by the votes of the Druids, Sometimes 

" this supreme dignity is contended for 

" even by force. 



POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 17 

" At a certain season of the year they 

" hold an assembly in a consecrated place, 

" esteemed the central place of Gaul, and 

" in the district of the Carnutes" (nearly 
that of Orleans.) " Hither all who have 

" any controversies repair from every 

" other part, and submit to their judg- 

" ments and decrees. The institution is 

" thought to have originated in Britain, 

" and to have been brought over into 

" Gaul from thence, and, at this time, 

" they who wish to perfect their knowledge 

" of it, generally go to study it there. 

" The Druids are not accustomed to 
" engage in warfare, nor do they, together 
" with others, pay tribute, but are ex- 
" cused from military service, and, in 
" every respect, are privileged. 

" Such being their advantages, many 
" become voluntarily attached to them, 
" and are sent by their parents and rela- 
" tions to them. The students there are 
" said to commit to memory a great 
" number of verses ; and some of them, 
" therefore, continue their studies for 

c 



wmmmzmm 



18 POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 

" twenty years, for they do not think it 
" allowable to commit their institutes to 
" writing, though in all other affairs, whe- 
" ther public or private, they make use of 
Greek characters. This rule, I presume, 
they have laid down for two reasons, 
viz., because they wish to prevent a dis- 
" closure of their instructions to the public, 
" and because that they who learn, when 
" they can have recourse to writings, neg- 
" lect the exercise of the memory. 

" Their leading principle is, that souls 

" do not perish, but pass after death into 

" other bodies : a principle which, in their 

" opinion, is the greatest incentive to 

" virtue, and contempt of death. They 

69 also lecture on the stars, and their mo- 

u tion ; the magnitude of the earth, and 

" its divisions ; on natural history ; and on 

" the power and government of the im- 

" mortal gods : and instruct the youth in 

a these subjects/' 

" The whole nation of the Gauls is ex- 
" tremely devoted to superstition, and 
" hence they who labour under severe in- 



POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 19 



a 



firmities, or are engaged either in war, 
" or other hazardous situations, offer * hu- 
" man victims, or devote themselves to be 
" sacrificed, and of these sacrifices the 
" Druids are the officiating priests. They 
" hold that the immortal gods are not to 
" be appeased for the death of a man but 
" by the death of another, and have re- 
" gular public sacrifices of this sort. Some 
" of them have immensely large images, 
" the limbs of which are formed of osier- 
" twigs. These they fill with men, and, 
a setting them on fire, burn their victims 
" to death. In these cases they consider 
" criminals, &c, as the victims most pleas- 
" ing to the gods, but if there be not a 

* These sacrifices seem to have been so terrible to the 
Romans, that one of the fi rst consequences of their victories, 
was the endeavour to suppress the whole order of the 
Druids, which, Pliny says, was effected throughout Gaul 
by Tiberius. What makes this the more singular is, that 
the Romans themselves did, at this very time, regularly 
offer up human sacrifices to Jupiter Latiaris. Even Caesar 
himself offered up such a sacrifice on the day of his 
triumph. These horrid sacrifices were not, however, 
wholly suppressed at that time, though mostly so, and in 
later times, the absolute sacrifice being dispensed with, 
the devoted, as victims, were brought to the altar, and a 
small libation of their blood shed there. 

c 2 



a 



$0 POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 

<c sufficient number of them, they supply 
* c it with innocent persons. 



" Mercury * is the god whom they re- 
spect the most, and of him they have 
" many images. They esteem him to have 
" been the inventor of all arts, the pro* 
" tector of ways and roads, and most 
" powerful to increase wealth and mer- 
S{ chandise. The next in estimation are, 
Apollo, Mars, Jupiter, and Minerva; of 
whom they have nearly the same ideas 



a 



* It is a most prejudicial and unpardonable affectation 
or indolence in the Greek and Roman writers, that they 
scarcely ever give the names of deities but in their own 
language, and hence we know not* with any certainty, 
what was the Gaelic, or the Welsh name, of any of these 
gods, neither are we told what was the form of these 
images* An old commentator on Persius says, that Mer» 
cury was worshipped under the form of a cube, yet no such 
stones* nor any other than unhewn stones, are found in 
the remains of Druid temples. Much has been written 
on the etymology of the Roman names of the deities, but 
to very little purpose hitherto, since it requires something 
more than a similarity of sound to establish the real deri- 
vation of a word. Without entering, therefore, on so ab- 
struse a subject, farther than to observe, that Beli, or Be- 
liiiiis, is said, by Ausonius, to be the same as Apollo, it 
shall suffice ta notice, that the respect paid to Mercury 
intimates that the Gauls were a mercantile nation, careful 
of their public ways, and skilled in various arts. 



POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. gi 

<—■——.— — — — ■ — — I I , I I I f 

" that other nations have, viz., that Apollo 
" averts diseases ; that Minerva first taught 
" the working of wool and embroidery ; 
* c that Jupiter rules supreme in heaven j 
" and Mars protects in war. To Mars they, 
" previous to battle, generally devote the 
" spoils. The animals are sacrificed * the 
" rest is brought together to one place, and 
" many of such spoils may be seen, piled 
" up in the consecrated places of many 
" cities. It is very seldom that any part 
u of the spoils are concealed, or taken 
away from the place where they are de^ 
posited, through inattention to their jre^ 
ligion, and if it were, the heaviest pun.- 
ishment and torture would be inflicted 
on the perpetrator of the deed." 



" All the Gauls say that they are de* 
" scended from Dis &, and that this is the 
M tradition of the Druids. For this reason 



* Dis, or Pluto, is said to have reigned over the infernal 
regions, which Homer places in the country of the ,Cim?° 
merians. The meaning of the tradition then is, that the 
Gauls, according to the Druidical tradition, came from 
the country to the north of the Black sea, and were de«= 
scendants of the ancient Cimmerians,. 



22 POPULAR ANTIQUITIES 

" they reckon time by * nights, and not 

" by days, and observe the times of their 

" birth, and the beginnings of years so, as 

" that the day is reckoned from the eve/' -f- 



" Their power was/' says t Dio Chry- 
sostom, " superior to that of the kings, 
" for the kings could not act without their 
" advice and approbation/' But this is 
no more than the power of the priests in 
every other heathen state which looked to 
omens or oracles for the signification of 
the Divine will as to its undertakings, of 
which signification the priests were the in- 
terpreters. 

To the account of the Druids given by 
Caesar, the later Greek and Roman writers 
have added little. Strabo and Amrnianus 
Marcellinus observe, merelv, that there 



* This is done both in Welsh and English at this day. 
We, say Wythnos, Pythefnos, that is eight nights, and 
fifteen nights in Welsh, and in English sevenight, fort- 
night, and hence, probably, arose the custom of keeping 
the eves of festivals. 

f Caesar de Bello Gall., lib. 6. 

% Orat. 49. . Quoted by Godwin, 



POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 23 

were three orders of men in particularly 
high estimation amongst all the Celtic 
nations, vis., the Druids, of whom they 
mention nothing that improves upon Cae- 
sar's description ; the Bards, who were 
poets, and composed and sang their devo- 
tional poetry ; and the Vates, or Eubates, 
in Welsh Ofyddion, who offered the sacri- 
fices, and made natural history their study. 
Lucan says, that the Druids resided in the 
recesses of thick groves, and Pliny, that 
the oak and missletoe were esteemed as 
most sacred by them. 

Scanty as these accounts are, it appears 
from them, that the Druids constituted a 
school of philosophy, and were the reli- 
gious and moral instructors of the nation ; 
that the Vates were the officiating priests, 
to whom a knowledge of natural history 
was so far requisite, as to be able to deter- 
mine on the natural or unnatural appear- 
ances of the viscera of the victims, and, 
perhaps, other phenomena which came 
under their observation. The Bards were 
sufficiently distinguished by their peculiar 
talents. 



'24 POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 

Of the religious rites, none of these au- 
thors have noticed any but two, as pecu- 
liar to them. The one, that sacrificing a 
man, they struck him on the back with a 
sword, and drew their omen from the con- 
vulsions of the victim : the other, that they 
formed a large image of wicker, and, filling 
it with human victims, burned them, which 
is also noticed as above b} r Caesar, but, 
with the limitation, that the forming of 
such images was not a general custom, but 
confined to some parts of Gaul, though 
human sacrifices were general. 

As Druidism was so soon repressed, 
though not for some ages wholly extirpated, 
in Gaul, and, no doubt, persecuted in like 
manner, as far as the Roman power ex- 
tended in Britain, the classic writers could 
have little, if any thing more, to commu- 
nicate. To their enemies, the Druids 
would not, under such circumstances, be 
forward to give information, and from 
others it could not be obtained. Their 
sacrifices were undoubtedly horrid in them- 
selves, and to the Romans terrible, because 
they were by fire. Otherwise the Romans 



POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 25 

had little reason to reproach them ; for a 
more savage and unprincipled nation than 
that of the Romans, never polluted the 
earth. What refinement or science they 
had was borrowed from that truly refined 
and civilized nation the Greeks, and they 
used it, as savages almost always do, what 
they learn of a civilized nation, as means 
of gratifying vanity, and extending the mis- 
chievous effects of artifice and circumven- 
tion. The Druid sacrifice was, however, 
common to many nations of antiquity, to 
the Canaanites, Greeks, Scythians, &c. ; 
and even at this day the burning of the 
widow of a Brahmin, in the East-Indies, 
is, in fact, a human sacrifice. 

As the Druids of Gaul derived their in- 
stitutes from Britain, that of sacrificing 
their enemies appears, even from this cir- 
cumstance, to have prevailed here, and is, I 
think, alluded to in one of the songs of the 
Gododin, as a custom of the Saxons, and 
in another ancient Welsh poem, as that 
of the Britons : — 

Gwelais y ddull o bentir Adoen 

Aberth am goelcerth y disgynnin. Gododin, p. 1% 



26 POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 

I beheld from the high land of the Done the spectacle 
of the sacrifice to be consumed by fire. 

Mab coelcerth fy ngwerth a wnaethant 
O aur pur a dur ac ariant. Gorchan Cynfelin. 

When I was devoted to the (sacrificial J fames, they 
ransomed me with pure gold, silver, and steel. 

The latter poem is attributed to Taliesin, 
but is probably of a much greater anti- 
quity, though he may have been the re- 
corder of this, and several other poems, 
certainly Druidical, which are attributed 
to him. 

As Druidism was the religion of this 
island at so early a period, it might be 
expected that, in such a situation, and 
especially in the parts of the island most 
remote from the continent, the religion 
would be very nearly that of the first colo- 
nies of the dispersion of mankind ; that 
it would, in its forms and ceremonies of 
worship, resemble those of the patriarchs, 
as recorded in the Holy Scriptures, and 
retain some tradition of the deluge ; and 
such is the fact. The oak was their sacred 
tree, and in the recesses of groves were 
their schools and temples. Their temples 



POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 27 



appear to have been spaces exposed to 
the open air, marked out by unhewn stones 
arranged in a circular form, and their mag- 
nificence, designated by the size of the 
rude masses which marked their extent, 
and the space they limited, as at Stone- 
henge, Abury, and Rollright or Rolldritch. 
Near the middle of these temples a crom- 
lech, or stone of immense size, is generally 
found, which has been considered as the 
altar, though its use is not ascertained. 
It is also observable, that at Stonehenge, 
the longest diameter of the temple lies 
so correctly north and south, as to mani- 
fest a very accurate degree of astronomical 
observation in the laying of the plan. That 
the cromlech had a reference to the Deity 
is the more probable, as the sacred stone 
in the temple of Mecca is, even in these 
days, an object of reverential respect. 
Apollonius Rhodius also says, " that * 



legos, a 'Btots cracra? A/xa^ove? ev^stouvto 
Martin, as quoted by Borlase, page 190, says, that the 
inhabitants of Classernisse had a tradition, that the chief 
Druid stood by the great stone in the temple there, to 
harangue the people. This is most probably the truth, 



28 POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 

" there was a sacred black stone in a 
" temple of Mars, to which all the Ama- 
" zons, in times of old, had addressed 
" their prayers/' This seems to have been 
of the same kind. Even at present the 
peasantry have an idea that the * rain- 
water, which lodges in the cavities on the 
surface of cromlechs, has a medicinal 
virtue, particularly for the relief of sore 
eyes, an idea which seems to be a vestige 
of an ancient superstition. Had not the 
persecution of Druidism by the Romans, 
and the propagation of Christianity sub- 
verted the Druidical power, possibly the 
temples of the Druids might have emu- 
lated those of Indostan in workmanship, 
as they do in magnitude, since both seem 
to have been structures intended for forms 
of worship not very dissimilar in their 
origin. 

and, from this circumstance, the name of Llech-lafar, or 
the speaking stone, at St. David's, most probably had its 
name. 

* In an old Welsh calendar it is said, that on the eve 
of Trinity Sunday, it was the custom to wash or bathe to 
prevent the tertian-ague. As Trinity Sunday falls near 
the summer solstice, this may be looked upon as originally 
a Druidic superstition of that season. 



POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 29 

The rites of the Druids appear, from 
Mr. Davies's late publication on the sub- 
ject, to have been founded on a corrupted, 
or, more probably, an emblematical history 
of the deluge, as the early superstitions of 
most other nations were. As the original 
colonies dispersed, they carried the tradi- 
tion with them* and, until the art of 
writing was known, probably recorded it 
by means of emblematical designs, which 
were to be interpreted by the learned. But 
as, after the corifusion of languages, co- 
lonies of different languages intermixed, 
or the original interpretation was forgotten, 
or new ideas were engrafted on it, the 
history was supposed to be that of the then 
settlement of a colony, and some of the 
emblems were mistaken for representations 
of good or evil powers, a regular mytho- 
logy was substituted for the real history. In 
this process, though the foundation was the 
same, the superstructure would, in some 
degree, necessarily be varied by local ideas, 
acquired habits of thinking, and the cor- 
rect or incorrect state of the oral tradition 
as to various parts of it ; and hence it has 
been, and may be, safely assumed, that 



30 POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 

the religious rites of Paganism are derived 
from the same origin, and varied only by 
circumstances of the various colonies. 
Losing the knowledge of the true God, 
the highest object worthy of adoration to 
an ignorant mind would be the sun, con- 
sidered either as the great origin of light, 
or his representative ; with whom the moon 
and stars would be thought to co-operate 
in an inferior degree. Hence the chief 
personage in Druidical mythology is dis- 
tinguished by the name Hu, which is the 
root of Huan, the name of the sun as dis- 
penser of light, and, perhaps, may have 
been so worshipped. But his general cha- 
racter is more like that of the Hindu 
Vishnu ; it is that of an incarnate deity. 
After a deluge, from which two persons only 
escaped, he, with his oxen, is said to have 
drawn a monster out of the lake, which 
burst and caused the deluge. Vishnou is 
also said to havfc destroyed the monster 
which troubled the ocean. Hu was the 
instructor of mankind in various useful 
arts: Vishnou also preserved the Vedas for 
the instruction of mankind. Hu con- 
ducted the Cymry to Britain from Thrace. 



POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 31 

To this Vishnou affords no parallel, for the 
Hindus do not consider themselves as hav- 
ing emigrated. Hu was the conqueror of 
land and sea, and the life of all that are 
in the world ; and these are likewise attri- 
butes of Vishnou : and, finally, both are re- 
presented as clothed with a human form, 
and both of a beneficent disposition towards 
man. The oxen of Hu were twins from a 
sacred cow, and the history of this cow is 
so far the same as that of the sacred cow 
Caradoga of the Hindus, that she is said 
to have supplied the vicinage at one time 
with milk till all the vessels were filled. 
The traditional Welsh legend calls her The 
brindled Cow, and adds, that an old sor- 
ceress coming for milk after the vicinage 
had been supplied, could obtain none from 
the cow, and in revenge set her mad ; in 
consequence she ran wild over the moun- 
tains, and became a calamity to the coun- 
try, but at last was slain by Hu, or, as 
the relater of this part of the story called 
him, Guy, Earl of Warwick, near Hirae- 
thog, in Denbighshire. The scene of the 
transaction is laid in so many places in 
Wales, that it should seem there was a 



■^H3 



32 POPULAR ANTIQUITIES* 

sacred cow wherever there was a Druidicat 
temple ; and that the origin of the history 
of the Dun Cow was from the same tra- 
dition is evident. The epithet Dun, given 
to this cow, seems more properly to be re- 
ferred to the place than to her colour, and 
to signify the same as it does in Dwwstable, 
Dunchurch, &c, and that she was the Cow 
of the Hill, and worshipped as symbolical 
of the ark. In fact it appears from the 
above-mentioned laborious work, that a 
reference to the deluge was the principal 
feature of the ceremonies of Druidism. 
Hence in the poem of the Gododin, Noe 
and Eseye, or, as it should be written, Noe 
and Isha, that is Noah and * the woman. 



* I must confess it appears very strange to me that so 
very little, if any, notice, has been taken of the wife of 
Noah, by the interpreters of ancient mythology, though 
surely, as second mother of the whole human race, she 
would not have been forgotten. Yet the opinion, that the 
ark was personified as a female deity, has been so general, 
that it may be thought presumptuous to differ from it. 
The above introduction of the names prove, however, that 
she was not neglected by the Welsh, and, I believe, that 
she was the real Isis, (as the name itself, by its approxima- 
tion to Isha, intim ttes,) and the Cybele of the Greeks, and 
that, when the sun was made the representative of Noah, 



POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 33 

viz., * his wife are noticed; and in another 
poem entitled, The Praise of Lludd the 
Great, the following lines are introduced 
as the chaunt, probably, in a procession ; 
which appear to be in the Hebrew lan- 
guage :— 

O Brithi Brith oi 
Nu oes nu edi 
Brithi brith anhai 
Sych edi edi eu roi. 

If these lines, with slight alterations, be 
read as follow, they will give a sense 
which, though not perhaps the correct 
one, may lead to a more happy conjec- 
ture: 

Hoi Berithi Berith hai Tf fTD WHl *IPI 

Nuach iesh Nuach edi ny TO t£P TO 

Berithi Berith ein hai TT )y mi \TTnn 

Such edi, edi ha roe. HiOn Hy Hy *]D 



the moon was made so of his wife. This interpretation 
is so simple and obvious as not, I hope, to require farther 
apology. 

* I beg leave here to observe that, in the mode adopted 
of reading without points, the authors of all grammars, I 
have seen, have fallen into a gross error in making vowels 
of the n and jr, the former being a simple aspirate, and the 
latter that known by the name of the Northumbrian burr, 
as on a comparison with the Arabic alphabet will appear. 



34 Popular antiquities. 

Ho ! my covenant is the covenant of life, 

Noah, Noah is my witness, 

My covenant is the covenant of the fountain 

of life. 
The shrine! is my witness; the prophet 

(viz#, Noah) is my witness. 

What is translated shrine properly signifies 
a covered dwelling, and uxay have been 
some kind of a representation of the ark 
carried in the procession, and which is the 
poem called Ked, i. c, the ark or chest. 

As Hu resembled, in character, the 
Vishnou, so did Ceridwen the Callee of 
India* as the Goddess of Death, and, 
upon the Druidical System of the Metemp- 
sychosis, as the goddess of the renova- 
tion of life. She was the goddess of the 
sacred mysteries, and* in this respect, the 
character attributed to her resembles that 
of the goddess Ceres of the Greeks, The 
caldron of Ceridwen is much celebrated 



These errors are the more injurious, as they make all the 
verbs, in which they occur, irregular with respect to them, 
which, if they were used as aspirates, would be regular* 
Thus if the verb *?03 be read pol, it will be irregular; if 
pagnal, paghal, or pahal, it will be regular, and so of others. 



POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 35 

by the Welsh poets, as containing the 
waters of science and inspiration. This 
water the goddess and nine assistant 
nymphs were supposed to have medi- 
cated by an infusion of sacred herbs ; 
a few drops of it were separated, which 
conferred the benefit, and the remainder, 
after the separation, became poisonous. 
By the Christians, as the Druid rites 
would be deemed impious, Ceridwen seems 
to have been considered as a sorceress, 
whose caldron was filled with all that 
was loathsome, and teeming with spells of 
the most noxious influence, and hence 
the origin of the fabulous traditions of 
witches and their caldron, which has 
been so strongly impressed on the minds 
of the public by the representations of 
Middleton and Shakespeare. 

These two, viz., Hu and Ceridwen, ap- 
pear to have been the principal objects of 
veneration, and, as to the rest, of whom 
there were no small number, the reader is 
referred to the work above mentioned. 

The Druids are said to have made use 
d 2 



36 POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 

of many herbs in their rites. Of these, the 
chief were the missletoe, the samolus, 
perhaps symye, or the cowslip, and ver- 
vain. On the uses of these I beg leave to 
offer some conjectures* which have not, 
to my knowledge, been anticipated. As 
the French, or rather Breton, name of the 
missletoe is Gwi, it seems to have been 
called Gwgdd, i. e., the Herb, by pre-emi- 
nence, by the British Druids, though it 
is now known in Wales by the name of 
Uchel*wydd, (a compound of uchel, high, 
and gwydd.) The species which grows on 
the oak is much larger, and of a deeper 
green* than the common missletoe, as 
appears from a specimen in my posses- 
sion : but, in general, the sprigs are so 
well adapted to the formation of the Bardic 
alphabet, first published by Mr. W. Owen, 
that this may have been one cause of the 
esteem in which it was held. There is, 
however, another and more important. 
The blossom falls off within a few days of 
the summer solstice, and the berry within 
a few days of the winter solstice, in the 
common plant ; and, perhaps, those on 
the oak missletoe may do so, more near to 






POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 37 

those times. This, then, rather than any 
medical virtues of the herb itself, which 
are at least dubious, was, probably, the 
true cause of its estimation. Rowland 
says, " that the chief Druid, clad in white, 
" ascended the oak, and, with a conse- 
" crated knife, gathered the missletoe on 
" the sixth of March/' more properly, it 
was on the day of the vernal equinox ; 
but whether at that time the missletoe 
presents any distinctive appearance, I 
know not ; perhaps it then shed the old 
leaves, as evergreens generally do about 
that time. 

The other herbs seem to have been of 
real medical use, in the gathering of which 
certain rites were to be attended to, as the 
precautions of our old herbalists and astro- 
logical quacks were, in order to give im- 
portance to their prescriptions. Of these, 
the symyl, or cowslip, if, as from the si*- 
milarity of names is probable, it be the sa^- 
molus, is a gentle opiate, and might be 
used as an anodyne. The vervain is a 
much more powerful medicine. It is well 
known, that worms produce sometimes 



38 POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 

the greater part of the symptoms, which 
were formerly believed to be the effects 01 
witchcraft, and vervain is a powerful ver- 
mifuge. Parkinson gives two remarkable 
cases, in which the tape-worm was expelled 
by the use of it ; and, as the Druids, and 
other pagan priests in general, were well 
acquainted with medical botany, they 
might be no way disinclined to represent 
those herbs as sacred, which had powerful 
effects in medicine, and more especially 
one, which, by expelling worms, gave 
them the credit of a dominion over evil 
spirits* 

The principal doctrines of the Druids, 
and their mode of instruction, have already 
been given from Caesar ; but, as he has not 
recorded any thing of the peculiar forms 
of the verses in which their doctrines were 
taught, a few examples of them may be 
acceptable. These verses were triplets in 
rhime or prose. The most ancient of the 
triplets in rhime, generally consist of three 
distinct parts. The first words are merely 
a kind of key to a certain number of trip- 
lets, probably, a series committed to me~ 



POPULAR ANTIQUITIES, 39 

raory together, sometimes suggesting the 
sequel, sometimes not. The second part 
introduces some circumstance in natural 
history, or in common life ; and the third 
is a moral sentence in the proverbial style, 
and deduced from the preceding circum- 
stance. Thus natural history and mo- 
rality were blended together, and the dis- 
ciple taught to draw moral instruction 
from a contemplation of ever-familiar ob- 
jects. As for instance, 

Eiry mynydd, gwancus iar 
Gochwyban gwynt ar dalar 
Yn yr ing gorau y w'r car. 

Snow of the mountain. 
The bird is ravenous for food. 
The wind whistles on the headland,,, 
In distress a relation (or friend is the j&ost 
valuable,. 

Calangauaf garw bin 

Anbebig i gyntefin 

Namyn Duw nid oes Dewin. 

The first day of winter. — Severe is the wea- 
ther (which may be expected,) 
Unlike the first of summer, (but) 
None but God can foresee what is to come. 

« Thus," says Mr. Davies, # whatever 



40 POPULAR ANTIQUITIES, 






page of nature was presented to their 
view, their teachers (the Druids) had 
" contrived to make it a page of wisdom/' 

The same form of triple tin verse and in 
prose was afterwards adopted by the Chris- 
tians, and in moral precepts, and even in 
decisions of the laws, and records of history, 
the triplet is used to an extent that, to one 
not conversant in them, would almost ex- 
ceed belief. The moral triplets have fre- 
quently an epigrammatic turn, which renders 
them at once amusing and instructive, and 
gives them a surer hold on the memory. 

Of the three orders of Bardism, Druids, 
Bards, and Ovates, the following is the ac- 
count given in the Welsh Triads, taken 
from Appendix 5, to the first volume of 
Collectanea Cambrica. 

" There are three branches of the pro- 
" fession of Bardism. First, the chief 
u Bard ; that is to say, a bard of full pri- 
" vilege, who has acquired his degree, and 
" privilege of a seat in the assembly of 
" bards, by regular instruction under an 






POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 41 

improved teacher. His office is to keep 
up a memory of arts and sciences; this 
being his duty as a bard regularly and 
fully instituted ; and also to preserve 
the memory of that which relates to the 
country, family, marriages, pedigrees, 
arms, districts, and rights, of the Welsh 
territory or nation/' 



From hence it appears, that the Bards 
were not only poets, but historians, and 
genealogists : that they not only celebrated 
those who were distinguished by excellence 
in any respect, but formed, in their official 
station, a court of record, by which the 
rights of territory and family were pre- 
served, and as long as a family bard was, 
by custom, attached to the suite of royalty 
or nobility in Wales, he appears to have re- 
tained the care of the family history. The 
true nature of the Bardic system appears 
hitherto, in one respect, to have been little 
understood. As the term Bard, taken li- 
terally, signifies POET, little more has been 
attributed to the title than the character of 
poet, and the title has been supposed to 
imply, regularly, a genius for poetic com- 



42 POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 

position, by myself, no less than by others. 
The supposition is, indeed, true in part, but 
on a more particular consideration, I am 
induced to believe, that its signification in 
our old writers is more extensive. It is 
well known that the instructions of the 
Druids were given in verses, and, though 
the composers of their instructions in verse 
were properly Bards, or poets, it appears to 
me, that the name of Bard was also given 
to those who were able by means of such 
verses to give instruction, and then to such 
as were eminent for their learning, and 
were the chief instructors of the ages 
in which they Lived. Such I apprehend 
was Taliesin, who, though eminent as a 
poet, does not assume his dignity so much 
as derivable from poetic talents, as from 
scientific knowledge, and it was probably 
to the latter he owed his pre-eminence. 
The notices of the systems of the Bards 
thus considered, at least, such as I have 
met with, do not enable me to give an 
accurate account of it; but they are such 
as to make it probable that they had an 
institution similar to our universities, and 
that the Bards formed a collegiate body. 



u 



ii 



POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 43 

" Secondly, the Ofydd, whose degree 
is acquired as the privilege of natural 
poetic genius or praise-worthy know- 
ledge, which he shall prove to be well 
" founded, by being examined before a 
" lawful session of Bards, which is judged 
" expedient, lest the advantages arising 
" from the powers of natural poetic ima- 
" gination should be repressed/' 

This description of the Ofydd contains 
no intimation that the Ofydd was the offi- 
ciating priest at sacrifices, and it should 
therefore seem that the sacrifices of the 
Druids were repressed, or at least not 
thought proper to be mentioned when the 
Triad was written. The two offices might 
certainly have existed together, and the 
support and instruction have been given 
in consideration of the natural endowments 
of the Ofydd. 



" The third is the Druid-bard, who must 
be a regularly instituted bard of session. 
His duty is to give moral and religious 
instruction in the session of bards, in 
the palace, in the place of worship, and 



44 POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 

" in the family, in which he has full pri- 
" vilege." 

From hence it appears there was in ge- 
neral a Druid attached to each family, a 
circumstance so exactly conformable to 
the system of the Brahmins of Hindostan, 
as to mark still more clearly the similarity 
between the religion of the Druids and 
theirs, and perhaps the trial by ordeal may 
afford another instance. 

From the learned work already referred 
to, it appears that the ceremonies of initia- 
tion into the druidical mysteries, had a 
great resemblance to those of the initiation 
into the Eleusinian mysteries. The as- 
pirant was to undergo a kind of imprison- 
ment, and to pass through scenes con- 
trived to impress terror and religious awe. 
The intent of these trials was, I suppose, 
to prove the fortitude of the man, and 
therefore the safety of intrusting him with 
their secret doctrines; or, if his courage 
failed, to create a horror and a dread of 
revealing more of what he had seen, than 
they should think proper to suffer to be 



POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 45 

known. "When he has passed these pro- 
bationary trials successfully, the rites of 
purification were performed, and he was 
admitted to a participation of the mys- 
teries. Mr. Davies thinks that the spaces 
under some of the large cromlechs were 
used as the places of imprisonment of the 
aspirants, and this opinion seems to be 
confirmed by the name of a cell near the 
Ridgeway, and the White Horse, in Uffing- 
ton parish. It is called Way land-smith, a 
corruption, I presume, of a Welsh name 
Gwely, or Wely-anesmwyth, that is, the 
uneasy bed. I know of no more probable 
origin of the name, and this explanation 
bears with it a signification of no small 
moment, as to the use to which it was 
probably applied. In Cardiganshire there 
is a kind of cist-vaen called Gwely Ta- 
liesin, which no doubt was intended for a 
similar purpose. 

Among the remaining traces of the re- 
ligious ceremonies of the Druids, one ap- 
pears to exist in the dance which is so 
well known, as stated in the Vicar of 
Wakefield to be the limits of the accom- 



46 POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 

plisbments of the Misses Flamborough, 
viz., the Roundabout, or more precisely the 
Chesire-round. This is danced by two 
only, one of each sex ; after leading off 
into the middle of an imaginary circle, and 
dancing a short time opposite to each 
other, the one strives by celerity of steps 
in the circumference of the circle to over- 
take and chase the other round it; the 
other in the mean time endeavouring to 
maintain an opposite situation by equal 
celerity in receding. This dance has so 
strong a reference to the motions of the 
sun and moon in their approaches and re- 
cessions, in their apparent courses, as leave 
no doubt on my mind that it was origi- 
nally a sacred dance in honour of those 
luminaries. Borlase says, " In Cornwall 
" there is a great number of those (stone) 
" circles, and the name they go by most 
" commonly is that of Dawns-m6n, that 
" is the stone-dance" (rather, I should 
think, the dancing-stones, or stones where 
the dance was held.) " Dawnse, in Cor- 
" nish, signifies a dance, and, in the cir- 
" cular figure, (of which we are now treat- 
" ing,) there is a very ancient dauce, or 



POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 47 

" play, still practised among the Cornish/ 
In the note he adds, " Tis called Trema- 
" theeves f but what this name signifies 
he has not explained* From his account 
of the dance it seems to be the same, or 
nearly so, as the Cheshire-round, and, 
perhaps, the lesser stone circles, were, in 
general, intended merely to inclose, or 
limit, the spaces for such dances, or other 
amusements. 



48 POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 



OF THE GREAT DRUIDICAL TEMPLE 
IN BRITANY. 



There appeared a short account of this 
temple some time ago in the Monthly 
Magazine, which induced me to make 
some inquiries relative to it ; and by Mon- 
sieur de Cambon, a French gentleman, 
whose residence was not far from it, I 
have been favoured with the following 
particulars. This immense work is situated 
near * Carnac, and supposed by the inhabit- 
ants of the neighbourhood, who have no 
tradition, or idea of Druidism, to have 
been a Roman work, originally intended 
as a barrier against the influx of the sea. 
But, though this may have been suggested 
by a superficial notice of the most perfect 
part as it now stands, it must appear from 
the extensive remains, that this could 



* Carnack is also the name of a village near the great 
Egyptian Temple of Lahor, and both temples seemed to 
have belonged to the same religious system. 



POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 49 

never have been the purpose for which it 
was erected. The most perfect part con- 
sists of pillars about fifteen feet high, set 
in sixteen rows, so that the spaces between 
the rows form alleys, of which that in the 
middle is the broadest, being about forty 
paces wide. These pillars are, in form, 
somewhat like a ninepin, being larger in 
the middle than at either end. These rows 
of pillars appear tolerably perfect for nearly 
a mile from Carnac, and at about this dis- 
tance from Carnac there is a flat altar. 
From the remains visible, the rows appear 
to have extended from sea to sea, across 
the tongue of land on which Quiberon 
stands, about four miles to the north of 
this town. Near the middle of this line 
some pairs of stones are standing, so 
placed as if intended to mark en- 
trances or gateways ; and near the east 
end of the line there is a large spheroid, 
once about forty feet long, but now lying 
in three pieces, and near it a flat stone, 
about thirty feet long, twenty-four broad, 
and two thick. I could not learn that 
there were any traces of stones in a 
circle. 



50 POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 

In digging near Carnac, there were 
found twenty-four Celts, of highly polish- 
ed jasper, arranged in a circle, in the 
centre of which circle was another Celt, 
of the same form and materials, but this 
was larger than the rest, and was, more- 
over, distinguished by being pierced 
through the middle. The hole was in 
diameter about half an inch. 

Tumuli are frequent in Britany, and 
near Carnac there is a mound wholly arti- 
ficial, and so high, that it is made a station 
to observe vessels at sea. 

Whether the Celtic institution of France 
has paid any attention to Britany or not, 
I have not been able to discover ; but these 
will suffice to shew, that it has a claim to 
the researches of the antiquary. 



POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 5l 



OF DRUIDIC CIRCLES, 



Though much has been written on this 
subject, it can by no means be said to be 
exhausted, as the uses for which they 
were constructed, have rather been guess- 
ed at than ascertained, though, as to some 
of them, the general opinion is so far de- 
termined, as that it is agreed, that these 
structures were intended as temples- But, 
if the usages of ancient nations be attend- 
ed to, or even some of modern times, it 
will not be thought extravagant to assume 
that these circles were not merely temples, 
or places dedicated solely to the purposes 
of religious worship, as our churches are; 
but also made use of for other purposes, 
which, though not in themselves strictly 
religious, were to be sanctioned by reli- 
gious rites. 

As religion is that which alone can se- 
cure social compact and fidelity ; and as, 
even in the forms of heathenism, it pre- 
E 2 



52 POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 

sented to the eyes rites indicative of the 
presence of a powerful, unseen being, wit- 
nessing all attestations, and ready to re- 
ward the observance, or punish any viola- 
tion, of truth or justice ; in every regular 
form of society, even the most simple 
has, of necessity, connected religious cere- 
monies with oolitical obligation. 

As among other nations, so also amongst 
the Britons, the great temples appear to 
have been the appointed places for the 
legislative assemblies ; and, accordingly, 
one of the old Welsh poets, alluding to 
Stonehenge, calls it Mawr cor Cyfoeth, or, 
The great sanctuary of the Dominion, and 
the very first view of the very ingenious 
and elegant representation of Stonehenge, 
by Sir R. C. Hoare, in his Antiquities of 
Wiltshire, as he conjectures it originally 
appeared, I could not but be forcibly 
struck with the analogy which the disposi- 
tion of the parts bears to that of the * sta- 



* In Psalm Ixviii., ver. 28, there is in theword on»:n> rig- 
mat ham, translated their counsel, a reference to the custom 
of assembling a council (for so it should be translated) in 



POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 53 

tions of the court of law in the time of 
Howel Dda, as represented in his code; 
and, from this analogy, I imagine that the 
order in the great national council bore a 
certain degree of resemblance to that of 
the law-court. 

When such assemblies were convened, 
the first ceremony was that of sacrifice; 
in which the animals were not usually slain 
in the temple, but in the area before it ; a 
portion of the blood was, in some cases, 
carried in and offered to the Deity, and 



a place marked, or laid out, with stones, as the word pro- 
perly signifies a collection, or, heap of stones, and hence 
the signification is transferred to those chiefs who assembled 
at places so set apart for holding councils. This reference 
is the more valuable, as it is, I believe, the earliest of the 
kind. The next may be that of Homer. Iliad 18, ver. 504* 

E»al' nri |ei7Tok7» 7u0o»? Ufa tn Kvxty 

The old men were seated by the wrought stones in the sacred 
circle. 

In Stonehenge the place of dignity seems to have been 
marked simply by the size of the pillar. In Homer's time 
the pillar seems to have been wrought into somewhat of a 
regular form. 



54 POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 

probably, poured out on or under the great 
altar. Moreover the most delicate part of 
the fat was also brought in and burnt as in- 
cense on the altar, with no small propriety, 
as in burning it seems to ascend towards 
the seat of the Divinity. The rest of the 
carcase was feasted upon by the sacrificers. 
Such being the manner of sacrificing in 
general, it is not extraordinary that no 
traces of fire are found on any of the stones 
at Stonehenge : the fat being, probably, 
burned in some kind of censer. As the 
custom of burying in sacred ground has no 
foundation in Christianity, but rather the re- 
verse, as our Saviour was buried in a garden, 
this custom also must be referred to the 
practice of antiquity in the times of hea- 
thenism ; and though the tradition that 
Stonehenge was raised to commemorate 
the massacre of British chiefs is certainly 
not true, yet that these chiefs were buried 
either within or near the temple may be 
so, as also, that barrows were raised over 
their remains as monuments; and that have 
been said, by an easy mistake, of the 
stones of the temple, which was true only 
of the barrows, or possibly of other stones 



POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 55 

erected as memorials, but not now recog- 
nised as such. Strahlenberg, in his ac- 
count of Russia, mentions his having seen 
circles of stones, which were said to mark 
places of interment, and that the bodies 
were buried under these stones, at a great 
depth from the surface of the earth. I 
think he says, from twelve to fourteen 
feet, and it might be, therefore, still worth 
while to examine whether any remains of 
interment could be found similarly situated 
at Stonehenge, though they could not be 
those of the British chiefs, as the temple 
is noticed by the Poet Aneurin, who es- 
caped from the massacre. In some in- 
stances, the circles may have been those 
of burial only, and such, I suppose, the 
curiously intersecting circles at Botallet in 
St. Just's, Cornwall, and described by Bor- 
lase, to have been. 

Another use of circles of stones, where 
they are small, was, probably, for the 
celebration of festival games, such as dan- 
cing, wrestling, &c, which were also, pro- 
bably, festivals, religious ceremonies. 



POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 



OF STONE PILLARS, 



Of these, the little I have to say is ra- 
ther to guard against mistakes than to 
give information. In many instances, they 
are, doubtless, memorials of a rude age ; 
and of acts no longer remembered. But, 
as it is at this day a custom in the moun- 
tainous parts of Wales, to set up a tall 
stone on an eminence to direct the travel- 
ler, where the country is wild, and the 
road would otherwise in snowy weather 
be difficult to find ; and as others of a. 
lesser size, are sometimes set up for the 
cattle to rub themselves, it may be a pru- 
dent precaution to examine whether any 
pillar-like stone may have been set up for 
either of these purposes, before it be re- 
ferred to any other. 



POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 57 



OF MERLIN, THE REPUTED 
MAGICIAN 



Two persons, of the name of Merlin, 
have obtained conspicuous places in the 
annals of the Welsh. The Caledonian 
Merlin, the author of some Druidical 
poems still in existence, and Merlin Ann- 
brosius, the subject of the far-famed ma- 
gician of romance, and, probably, the 
author of some portion of those prophecies, 
which stimulated the Welsh to a struggle 
for their rights, until they were happily 
amalgamated with those of England by 
the union, The account of his birth, as 
given by one of the writers of the history 
published by Geoffrey of Monmouth, is, 
probably, that of popular tradition, but 
wrought up into a somewhat more impres- 
sive form in the tales of the Troubadours. 
To them it was a professional, or at least a 
convenient idea, to attribute the birth of so 
eminent a magician to a supernatural 



58 POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 

origin. It was justifying to the imagina- 
tion of credulity every subsequent descrip- 
tion of the wondrous efficacy of his art. 
The progeny of a demon who had violated 
the sanctuary of a religious order in the 
person of a nun, the mother of Merlin, 
must have been conceived, even as born of 
such parents, to be the devoted instrument 
of portentous effects, — for such was Merlin 
said to be. The place of his birth is said, 
in Welsh history, to have been Carmar- 
then, so called from Caer and Myrdd, and 
sygnifying, the city of ten thousand (sol- 
diers), that is, of the legion. But^ Jiow- 
ever just the derivation of the name of 
Carmarthen seems to be, and, I thought 
to be, when I published the translation of 
the Brut; a circumstance, whielThad not 
then occurred to my mind, induces me to 
believe, that the name and its derivation, 
have been substituted, by a mistake of 
Geoffrey of Monmouth's Carleon. Nennius 
says, that Merlin was born * " In campo 



* Nennius, cap. 42. He says, it was " In regione quce 
vocatur Glevising." It is in the hundred of Gwaunllwg, 
of which Glevising is, perhaps, the error of the copyist. 



POPULAR ANTIQUITIES* 59 

" Electi," that is, In the Jield of battle, or, 
Camp of Electus. N ow the Welsh for campus 
Electi, would be maes Elect ; and not far 
from Carleon there is a village, called, in 
Welsh* Maesaleg, and commonly, at pre- 
sent, Bassaleg. On a comparison of these 
names, the true reading of Nennius would 
be, " In campo Alleeti," that is, In the 
camp or field of battle of Allectus, the Ro- 
man general ; and this being the birth- 
place of Merlin, according to Nennius, 
the city of the ten thousand must, neces- 
sarily, have been Carleon, in this instance. 
The mistake of Geoffrey may have been 
caused by an explanation of the word 
lleon, that is, legion, in his original. 
It may now, on these circumstances, be 
assumed, that the birth-place of this cele- 
brated character was Bassaleg, in Mon- 
mouthshire ; and not, as the general opi- 
nion has prevailed, Carmarthen. 

There is a kind of prejudice which 
pleases itself with the idea, that the birth 
and infancy of extraordinary characters 
are distinguished by some unusual cir- 
cumstances, indicative of their future no- 






60 POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 

toriety : and the prejudice is not wholly 
without foundation as to the latter, in 
which the first developing of the character 
often affords a clue to its subsequent pre- 
eminence ; neither could the prejudice 
have been so readily acquiesced in, had 
not the fact sometimes seemed at least to 
justify it sufficiently for the purposes of 
the poet and the biographer. Hence the 
biographers of Merlin, esteeming him to 
be a magician, and, of course, potent in 
diabolical arts, have, in general, recorded 
him as the unhallowed issue of a demon 
and a nun ; of an origin as monstrous, as 
his power was conceived to be super- 
natural and profane. This, however, ap- 
pears to be the exaggeration of later writers 
of the Romish church, in order to discredit 
his prophecies ; for Nennius, who wrote in 
the eighth century, says no more than that 
" he * was an illegitimate child whose 
" mother, fearing that, if she acknow- 
" ledged an illicit connexion, the king 
u would put her to death, made oath that 
" he had no father/' He, prbbably, was 

Chap. 42. 



POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 6l 

illegitimate, and the mother, so far the 
more proper for the part she was called, 
and no doubt well instructed, to perform. 

The idle narrative hitherto given, of his 
being brought into notice, has little that is 
satisfactory in its usual form ; but the pro- 
bable result of a consideration of all the 
circumstances is as follows. 

The situation of Vortigern's affairs was, 
at this time, extremely, but deservedly, 
disastrous. Duped by his Saxon allies, 
and hated by the Britons for his attach- 
ment to the Saxons, dreading the effects 
which the just irritation of his own indig- 
nant people, after the treacherous mas- 
sacre of the British chiefs at Stonehenge, 
might produce, he had fled to the recesses 
of Snowdon for security ; and probably, 
also, as neither the influence nor the credit 
of the Druids was extinct, with a hope of 
engaging them in his favour. There seems 
also to have been another reason. Vorti- 
gern cannot reasonably be accused of en- 
tertaining any religious principle; and 
they who have no religious principle are, 



62 POPULAR ANTIQUITIES 

when in difficulties, the most superstitious. 
Endeavouring to console or encourage 
themselves by a principle of fatalism, 
their anxiety to know whether they have 
any thing to hope, or to know the worst, 
becomes a torment, and they apply with 
eagerness to any one whose plausible con- 
fidence and artifice has acquired an ima- 
ginary credit for a power of exploring the 
secrets of fate. With such an anxiety is 
Vortigern said to have applied to the Bards 
of Snowdon. But as the Bards were pro- 
bably too wise to be gained over to his 
cause, and no less his enemies, it required 
no great artifice to render his design of 
building a fort ineffectual in a district 
where their influence was absolute, or to 
play upon the agitated mind of the king ; 
and if as it seems, they were apprised of, 
and connected with, the intended landing 
of Ambrosius and Uther, the sons of Con- 
stantine, in order to dethrone Vortigern, 
it was an object to detain him there, and, 
at the same time, to prevent the building 
of the fort. Their declaration that the fort* 

* Dr. Jamieson, in his History of the Culdees, relates a 
similar traditional anecdote ; from which it should seerri, 



POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 65 

could not be built, unless the mortar 
were cemented with the blood of a child 
who had no father, seems to have been 
given with this view, and I am inclined to 
believe that the king perceived it, and, 
knowing Merlin to be brought up at Car- 



that the sacrifice of a human victim was thought by the 
Druids a necessary propitiation, when the commencement 
of an undertaking was not successful. The anecdote is 
this :— " When Columba first attempted to build on Iona, 
" the walls, as it is said, by the operation of some evil 
" spirit, fell down as fast as they were erected, Columba 
* c received supernatural intimation that they would never 
«' stand unless a human victim was buried alive, Accord- 
iS ing to one account, the lot fell on Oran, the com- 
* e panion of the saint, as the victim that was demanded 
* c for the success of the undertaking. Others pretend, 
<c that Oran voluntarily devoted himself, and was interred 
fi accordingly. At the end of three days, Columba had the 
" curiosity to take a farewel look at his old friend, and 
" caused the earth to be removed. Oran raised his swim- 
'* ming eyes, and said, e There is no wonder in death, and 
" f hell is not as it is reported.' The saint was so shocked 
" at this impiety, that he instantly ordered the earth to be 
<c flung in again, uttering the words of the proverb," viz., 
" Earth, Earth, on the mouth of Oran, that he may blab 
" no more." Page 20. 

The traditions of Wales and Scotland, and particularly 
those of the legendary kind, have, in many instances, so 
near a connexion as to demonstrate the same origin, and to 
throw light the one on the other. 



64 POPULAR ANTIQUITTES. 

leon with care, though as the child of no 
acknowledged father, and, suspecting him 
to be the son of Ambrosius, whether legi- 
timate or not ; sent for him thither in order 
to be revenged on the Bards for the death 
of the child, which the Bards, no doubt 
discovering, prevented, by giving the child 
instructions to perform his part, and, by 
some ceremonial illusions, which enabled 
them to secure the safety of the child, and 
impress the mind of Vortigern with appre- 
hensions for his own safety if he remained 
there. To this purpose the giving to Merlin 
the prophetic character which the Bards 
themselves claimed was admirably adapted, 
and when the immediate purpose had been 
obtained ; it was a character which re- 
mained with Merlin for the rest of his life. 
The impressions which extraordinary cir- 
cumstances make on a young mind are 
durable, and something of the effect, com- 
bined with sagacity and the learning of 
the times, seems to have formed and 
established his subsequent character, and 
confirmed his reputation. This idea of his 
being a son of Ambrosius is not merely 
conjectural, though it was originally the 



POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 65 

the result of the above consideration of 
circumstances : it is in a great measure 
confirmed by Nennius in chap. 44, who 
says, that when Merlin had concluded his 
explanation of the ominous representation, 
Vortigern demanded his name, to which 
Merlin replied, " My name is Ambrosius."* 
Then said the king, " Of what family art 
" thou ?" He replied, t " One of the Ro- 
" man consuls is my father." 

The detail given by the British chronicle 
of Merlin's answers to Vortigern and the 
Bards, is in some respects difficult to be 
understood, as it relates to Druidic super- 
stitions, of which no satisfactory account, 
that I know of, has been transmitted. 
The scene is laid at Dinas Em^s, where 



* Nennius adds he>'e Embreis glentic (Emrys gwledig) 
esse " videbatur." This may signify, He was thought to 
be Ambrosius the Royal : or the name Ambrosius was 
thought to signify Royal. The latter seems to be the 
sense intended here. 

f The Roman consuls here intended were not properly 
such, but noblemen, or chieftains of Roman origin, viz., the 
two brothers Ambrosius and Constautine, who claimed a 
descent from Constantine the Great. 



66 POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 

Vortigern intended to build his fort. 
Dinas Emrys signifies the city of * Emrys, 
and as Stonehenge is also called Gwaith 
Emrys, that is, the work of emrys, or cor 
emrys, that is, the circle, or, choir of emrys • 
the intent of both were, probably, of the 
same kind, that is, I believe, as places of 
solemn assembly, convoked by the sove- 
reign, whether of Bards or chieftains. 
•j* Here Merlin is said to have upbraided 
the Bards with their ignorance, and the 
cruelty of their suggestions. As a proof 
of the former, J " Tell me/' said he, (re- 
ferring to the place where the fort was 
constructed, and on which there were 

> ■. . . ■ . I -I . ! ■ 

* Or of Royalty.] See note * page 65. 

f Collectanea Cambrica, Vol. I. p. 120. 

$ Nennius gives the description of this exhibition with 
some variations. He says the dragons, or, as he calls them, 
worms, were found in a tent (probably a kind of shrine) 
inclosed in two vessels. I suppose he means that one of 
these vessels contained the other, and that the tent was in 
the inner vessel. He also adds, that the red worm drove 
the white out of the tent into the water, and that this tent 
signified the kingdom of Vortigern, which at the time was 
possessed both by Britons and Saxons, and " that the pond 
denoted the world ; more probably the ocean." 



POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 6j 

rushes) " what is below that heap of 
" rushes?" When the Bards acknowledged 
their ignorance, he desired that the rushes 
might be cleared away, and there appear- 
ed a large pool of water. " Now," said 
the boy to them, " Tell me what is in that 
" lake?" They answered, " We know 
" not." " Then drain the lake," said he, 
" and, at the bottom, you will find a stone 
" chest, in which there are two sleeping 
" dragons. These, whenever they awake, 
" fight with each other, and it is their vio- 
" lence that shakes the ground, and 
" causes the work to fall." The Bards, 
however, were unable to drain the lake, 
and Merlin effected it, by letting it out in 
five streams. Vortigern now commanded 
the stone chest to be opened, and out of it 
there came a white and a red dragon ; 
which immediately began a fierce battle. 
At first the white dragon drove the red one 
to the middle of the pool, then the red one, 
provoked to rage, drove the white one 
thither in turn. Vortigern now asked what 
this should signify, and Merlin exclaimed, 
u Woe to the red dragon, for her calamity 
" draws nigh, and the white dragon shall 

p 2 



■I 



68 POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 

" seize on her cells. By the white dragon 
" the Saxons are signified, and the Britons 
" by the red one, which the white shall 
" shall overcome. Then shall the moun- 
" tains be made plains, and the glens and 
" rivers flow with blood. * The Saxons 
" shall possess almost all the island from 
" sea to sea, and afterwards our nation 
" shall arise, and bravely drive the Saxons 
beyond the sea/' 



u 



Such was the appearance exhibited, and 
the prophetic exposition : which, though 
naturally suggested by the hopes and fears 
prevalent at the time, made a deep and 
lasting impression on the minds of the na- 
tion to whom it was addressed. 

When the conference was over, Vorti- 
gern, according to Nennius, made a grant 
to Merlin of a fort, and the western pro- 
vinces, which, probaby, means no more 
than that he left the Bards in possession 
of Carnarvonshire, as he himself hastily 
withdrew to South Wales, where, in his 

* Nennius, chap. 43. 



POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 6Q 

fort, which was in Monmouthshire, he was 
burned to death, in the burning of the fort 
by Ambrosius. 

About this time, or at the conference, 
Merlin is said to have delivered what bears 
the name of his Great Prophecy, from its 
reputed importance. That, however, which 
has been published as such, is of no suffi- 
cient authority. Some passages of it are 
quoted by Giraldus Cambrensis, as tradi- 
tional, others have, probably, been inter- 
polated to make it conformable to real his- 
tory. It is, however, so far useful as being, 
in some degree, a confirmation of the his- 
tory. 

On the death of Vortigern, Merlin ap- 
pears to have returned to the neighbour- 
hood of his native place, and to have 
chosen the delightful retirement of the vale 
of Euas, at a later period, adorned by 
Lanthoni Abbey, for his studies. From 
hence he is said to have been sent for 
by Ambrosius the Great, in order to give 
the plan of a monument to be erected in 
memory of the British chiefs massacred by 



70 POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 

the treachery of the Saxons on Salisbury 
plain. Men of profound studies, and in- 
genious powers and research, have, in all 
dark ages, been thought to hold a com- 
munication with beings of another world. 
To an ignorant mind the most satisfactory, 
as well as the readiest mode of accounting 
to itself and others, for a seclusion for 
which it is itself unfit; and for scientific 
discoveries, of which it can neither trace nor 
divine the origin, is to attribute them to the 
converse and communication of some beings 
of the invisible world ; and any exhibitions 
of a surprising kind, though merely effects 
of natural knowledge and ingenuity, would 
be, of course, attributed to the power of 
such beings, and, if exhibited at pleasure 
by the artist, he would be conceived to 
have a power over them, by the means of 
either some superior being, or a compact 
of a tremendous nature. The latter idea 
is, perhaps, peculiar to the Christians, who 
applied a metaphorical expression of Scrip- 
ture literally. If Merlin, therefore, was, 
as he appears to have been, a man of un- 
common endowments, well versed in Bardic 
science, and perhaps, attached to their 



POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 71 

religion, the tale of tradition would have 
sufficient grounds for attributing magical 
powers to him : and, as Stonehenge was 
originally constructed upon scientific prin- 
ciples, and, no doubt, with awful cere- 
monies, and was also distinguished by the 
epithet of Emrys, it is not surprising that 
the tradition should ascribe the construc- 
tion to Merlin. Hence, in order to raise a 
monument worthy of the occasion, Merlin 
is said to have advised the king to send, not 
as it has been usually been said, to Kil- 
dare, but to Killara, which is in the county 
of Meath, in Ireland, for a circle of stones, 
and transport them to Salisbury Plain. 
The tradition proceeds to state, that the 
plan being, on its first proposal, ridiculed 
by the king, Merlin persisted in his plan. 
" Laugh not, sire," said he, " for my 
" words are in seriousness and in truth. 
" Those stones are of various efficacy and 
" medicinal powers, and were brought 
" thither formerly by the heroes from 
" Spain, who placed them as they are at 
" at present. Their motive for bringing 
" them was this : — In cases of sickness they 
medicated the stone, and poured water 



a 



I 1 ': : 



72 POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 

" on it, and this water cured any dis~ 
" order/' The king, informed of the ef- 
cacy of the stone, immediately determined 
upon the expedition, and sent out Uther 
Pendragon, accompanied by Merlin, and 
at the head of fifteen thousand men, to 
fetch them. After having gained a battle 
over the Irish forces, Uther and his men 
proceeded to Killara, and here the powers 
of Merlin were signally displayed. The 
army having in vain attempted to move 
the stones, Merlin, by his art alone, drew 
them freely and without labour to the 
ships, and thus they were brought, says 
the history, to ihubri, that is, Stone- 
henge. 

Here are almost to a certainty, two dis- 
tinct traditions confounded together, and 
an error as to the real object of the expe- 
dition. That the raising some monument, 
or perhaps the solemn interment of the 
remains of the chiefs, was one motive for 
the assemby on Salisbury Plain is pro- 
bable, but, as I have already said in the 
Collectanea Cambrica, I am persuaded the 
principal motive was to settle the succession 



TOPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 73 

to the sovereignty, and other public af- 
fairs ; and the great object of the expedi- 
tion seems to have been the fatal stone on 
which the Irish kings were crowned : which 
Merlin, wishing to restore the power of 
Druidism, may have suggested ; and he, 
therefore, would probably take a leading 
part in ttie enterprise, and make the re- 
moval to seem miraculously the effect of bis 
art. As it was, I presume, brought to 
Stonehenge, this was sufficient, when the 
real fact was forgotten, to build the tradi- 
tion of his having brought the immense 
stones which form the temple there. 
Though the history first mentions the circle 
of stones, yet it is remarkable, that in 
describing the medicinal virtues, these, in 
the oldest copy, are attributed to a single 
stone, which seems to confirm the con- 
jecture. 

The next occasion on which Merlin is 
noticed, is upon the appearance of a 
comet, about the time of the death of 
Ambrosius, when he was required to ex- 
plain the intent of what was in those ages, 
supposed to be so portentous an event. 



■■I 



74 POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 

This he did with equal policy and inge- 
nuity, having had, as is most likely, pri- 
vate notice of the death of Abrosius, so as 
to ensure the succession to the sovereignty 
to Uther. He burst out into an excla- 
mation, that Ambrosius was dead, and, 
having bewailed the loss that Britain must 
sustain by his death, declared that the 
comet was significant of the fate of Uther 
and his son. The head of the comet, by 
the imagination of the multitude, was con- 
ceived to resemble a dragon, and this 
work of fancy was profitably converted to 
an important advantage. " Thou, Uther/' 
said Merlin, " art signified by this star 
" with the head of a dragon. By the 
" beam pointing towards France is de- 
" noted a son of thine, who shall be great 
" in wealth, and extensive in sway, and 
" by that directed towards Ireland a 
" daughter, whose descendants shall sue- 
" successively govern the whole/' The 
result was, as might be expected, Uther 
was elected sovereign, and is said, from 
this circumstance, to have borne a dragon 
as his standard, and to have had the surname 
ofPendragon, that is, The Dragon's head. 



POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 75 

Another exploit attributed to Merlin is 
far from doing honour to his memory, it 
being the transformation of Uther and his 
servant Ulphen, into the resemblances of 
Gorlais, Earl of Cornwall, and his servant, 
in order to enable Uther to deceive the 
wife of the earl. This part of the story, 
however, bears so strong a resemblance to 
that of David and Uriah, and is so ap- 
parently intended to stigmatize the birth 
of Arthur, who was the son of Uther, that 
it can be esteemed only the idle fiction of 
a monk, or of a romance writer. 

Whether Merlin survived Arthur or not 
has not been recorded in history, but it is 
most probable that he did, and through 
some apprehension of the Saxons endea- 
voured to escape them by sea. On this 
occasion he is said to have sailed in a ship 
of glass, and to have taken with him the 
thirteen precious curiosities of Britain. Ac- 
cording to the account of this voyage given 
by Mr. Lewis Morris, he conveyed them 
to Bardsey Island, and died and was bu- 
ried there, which is very probable ; though 



76 POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 

one of the Triads says, that after he had 
sailed he was never heard of more, M^hich, 
if the writer of the Triad Jived in South 
Wales, might well be true there, consider- 
ing the remote and unfrequented situation 
of Bardsey. The thirteen curiosities, with 
the explanation of the names or properties 
as given by Mr. Morris, are as follow. 

1. Lien Arthur, (the veil of Arthur,) 
which made the person who put it on in- 
visible. 

2. Dyrnwyn. 

3. Corn Brangaled, (the horn of Bran- 
galedj which furnished any liquor de- 
sired. 

4. Cadair, neu carr Morgan mwynfawr, 
(the chair, or car of Morga?i mwynfawr,) 
which would carry a person seated in it 
wherever he wished to go. 

5. Mwys Gwyddno, (the hamper of 
Gwyddno,) meat for one being put into 
it, would become meat for a hundred. 

6. Hogalen Tudno, (the whetstone of 
Tudno,) which would sharpen none but 
the weapon of a brave man. 

7. Pais Padarn, (the cloak of P adorn.) 



POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 77 

8. Pair Dyrnog, (the caldron of Dyrnog,) 
none but the meat of a brave man would 
boil in it. 

9. Dysgyl a gren Rhydderch, (the dish 
and platter of Rhydderch,) any meat de- 
sired would appear on it. 

10. Tawlbwrdd, (a chess board, or, ra- 
ther backgammon board,) the ground gold, 
and the men silver, and the men would 
play themselves. 

11. Mantel], (a robe J 

12. Madrwy Eluned, (the ring of 
Eluned,) whoever put it on could make 
himself invisible at pleasure. 

13. Cyllel Llawfrodedd, (the knife or 
dagger of Llawfrodedd.) 

Of the second of these Mr. Morris, I 

suppose, found no explanation, nor can 

I offer any thing that is satisfactory, the 

eleventh seems to have signified a magic 

robe ; the last means, perhaps, the dagger 

of Druidic vengeance, as llawfrodedd may 

be interpreted, the hand of havoc. 

The magical powers assigned to some 
of these curiosities are so sin.ilar to what 
is found in the Arabian tales, as to point 



7B POPULAR ANTTQUITIttS. 

out a common origin of great antiquity. 
The ship of glass is, by the author of the 
mythology of the Druids, ingeniously ex- 
plained as signifying a sacred vessel, em- 
blematic of the ark and the name of 
Bangor Wydrin, or Glass Bangor, an an- 
cient name of Glastonbury, confirms the 
idea of Wydr, literally glass, signifying 
sacred. I believe gwydr, in these instances, 
has no connexion with, or relation to, the 
same sound when signifying glass, but 
that its true signification is sacred, though 
not now so used. . / 

Here the tradition of Merlin ends. Of 
his art some traditionary information seems 
long to have remained, and the characters 
of poet, prophet, and magician, have been 
assigned to Robin Du of the 14th cen- 
tury. The most noted was, however, the 
celebrated Dr. John Dee, whose real cha- 
racter has not, I think, been well under- 
stood. His learning is acknowledged, and 
a volume of his works published without 
the least apprehension of what they most 
probably contain : viz., the negotiations 
of his time, in which he was employed in 



POPULAR ANTIQUITIES, 79 

«— — — M— MB— — — — — — ■ 

foreign courts. TAe stone, or magic mirror, 
seems in this book, though to the ignorant 
he shewed a piece of cannal coal, or a 
polished glass as such occasionally, really 
meant the cypher, which he used ; the spirits, 
the letters, or communications ; and the 
fumigations, the offers of advantage. It is, 
I think, most probable, that the utility of 
such men under a fictitious character, so 
well adapted to the gaining of intelligence 
and conveying it safely, that astrologers 
and dealers in the Black Art, as it was 
called, found such protection : and it may 
have been in revenge for the defeat of 
some political project that Dee's library 
was destroyed* Kelly seems to have be- 
trayed him ; he at least deserted him. The 
cyphers used by Dee are still, I believe, in 
the British Museum. 

But to return to Merlin. His fame has 
pervaded the gloom of barbarous ages* 
and his mighty magic adorned the tales of 
romance, and given splendour to theatric 
exhibitions, and when every abatement 
is made for the extravagance of popular 



80 POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 

opinion, enough will remain to make it- 
credible that one, whose name has been 
so transmitted, must have been a man of 
no common endowments. 



POPULAR ANTIQUITIES, 



OF KING ARTHUR. 



If history has been despoiled of the 
greater portion of that applause which it 
seems once to have consecrated to the 
memory of this prince, tradition has been 
fondly credulous in transmitting his name 
to posterity adorned by every effort of 
the imagination, as that of the first of 
knights, the flower of courtesy, the mirror 
of sovereigns, and the idol of his people. 
And when every allowance is made for the 
decoration of the tale by the minstrel, or 
the exaggerations of popular narrative, still 
he must have been a prince of no common 
talent and attractions, whose fame has 
been so cherished by the nation he govern- 
ed. A French poet has described Henry 
the Fourth of France but too generally, 
except as to France, as being, " Seul roi 
dont le peuple n'ai pas oublie le nom/ J 
The only king whose name is not forgotten 
by the populace. The same maybe said, 
with nearly the same truth, as to the popu- 

G 



82 POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 

larity of the name of Arthur amongst the 
Welsh. It has in a great measure eclipsed 
every other. Neither were the characters 
of Arthur and Henry dissimilar. It was 
not valour, or wisdom, or liberality, or 
success, merely, that won the affections of 
the people ; these may all unite in one 
character, the advantages be felt and ac- 
knowledged, and yet make no lasting im- 
pression; it was that spontaneous grace 
which a liveliness of wit and spirit, and 
real benevolence, threw over every action, 
which cheered in the midst of danger, and 
enlivened in the hour of mirth ; could oc- 
casionally condescend without losing its 
dignity, and in its own happiness made 
that of the people a primary ingredient. 
Such was the Artus forth et faceJus, the 
witty and spirited Arthur of tradition. 

The notices, which are afforded by the 
Welsh Chronicle, usually called the Brut, 
are in some parts, obscured apparently by 
the wish of the writer, or some of the tran- 
scribers, to suppress all reference to 
Druidism, and rendered less credible by 
an addition, or interpolation of circum- 



POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 83 

stances borrowed by a later writer, pro- 
bably from the compositions of the min- 
strels of the ninth or tenth century. Still, 
however, comparing the written with the 
oral traditions, a considerable portion of 
the obscurity will be removed, and the 
principal events of his life given, without 
making any violent demand on the faith 
of the reader, so as to be probably the 
truth, or very nearly so. 

At the time of the birth of Arthur the 
state of Britain was, in several respects, a 
very unhappy one. The power of the 
Saxons continually increased from their 
first arrival by the successive influx of new 
hordes of adventurers into the realm, had 
established itself strongly on the south- 
eastern counties, and the progress of the 
contest extended towards the Severn and 
the Humber, near which last the most im- 
portant battle of this period was fought. 
But though the early historians seem to 
have thought it due to their attachment to 
Christianity to pass ovef any great conflict 
between its professors and those who ad- 
g 2 



84 POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 

hered to Druidism, yet it is certain such 
did exist, and the dissensions of the Britons 
as to religion must have greatly favoured 
the enterprises of the Saxons, whose suc- 
cess is not upon any other supposition 
easily accounted for in its full extent. 
From the preceding transactions at Stone- 
henge, it should seem that Druidism had 
gained some advantage there, and that 
somewhat of a renewal of its rites had 
taken place under the superintendence of 
Merlin, who had, perhaps, brought back 
with him from Ireland some of its exiled 
priests, and with them the formularies of 
their worship. If this was the case, it was 
probably the last time of its celebration 
when Ambrosius was made sovereign, as 
there is no reference to any such in the 
succeeding reign, though Merlin in the 
beginning of it is said to have interpreted 
the prognostication of the comet. It is 
rather probable that Druidism was again 
on the decline. Thus much it appeared 
necessary to premise ; and we may now 
enter on the history of our hero with a 
clearer view of the subject. 



POPULAR ANTIQUITIES* 85 

According to Nennius, this prince was 
the son of Uther Pendragon, which this 
historian states simply without any im- 
putation of illegitimacy ; and though it 
must be confessed, that what Nennius 
wrote has been dreadfully curtailed and 
corrupted, yet had he dropped a hint that 
could have tended to the prejudice of Ar- 
thur's fame, there can be little doubt but 
that it would have been carefully preserved. 
It is therefore the more probable, that 
the anecdote of an adulterous intrigue of 
Uther with the wife of Gorlais, Earl of 
Cornwall, the consequence whereof was 
the birth of Arthur, is the fabrication of a 
later writer than the author of the history. 
Even had it not been so, it was by 
the Welsh laws in the power of the fa- 
ther, by a public acknowledgment in pre- 
sence of the heads of his family, to confer 
legitimacy on an otherwise illegitimate 
child. 

According to the Morte Arthur, when 
this prince w r as born, Merlin desired that 
the child should be -delivered to him im- 
baptixed, but that he had him baptized 



86 POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 

before he delivered him to Sir Hector for 
his education. This intimates that he was 
educated in the principles of Druidism, and 
(perhaps on the death of Merlin) became 
a Christian. The Sir Hector of the ro- 
mance, or Sir Autour, as he is called in 
the Life of Merlin, is, in the Welsh tale, 
called Cynhyrgain the bearded, the foster- 
father of Arthur, by whom he was instruct- 
ed and brought forward to act upon the 
great scene which was to prove so re- 
nowned. 

The death of Uther, when Arthur was 
about fifteen, or as Higden more probably 
states it, about eighteen years of age, em- 
barrassed the British nobility much as to 
their choice of a successor; because of the 
youth of Arthur. In such cases it had 
been usual to elect the next of kin able to 
undertake the government ; but at this 
time the promising hopes of the talents 
and spirit of the young prince, and pos- 
sibly the concurrence of different parties 
as to one whose youth might open to each 
a prospect of attaching him to itself, de- 
cided in his favour. To give the decision 



POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 87 

a supernatural sanction in the eyes of the 
multitude. The artifice was simple, and 
the result easily effected by predetermina- 
tion or compact. At Wintchester, or more 
probably Silchester, there was said to be a 
stone, * in a cleft whereof was lodged a 
sword ; and on the stone an inscription, 
the purport of which was, that he who 
could draw that sword out of the cleft was 
the right heir to the sovereignty of Britain. 
This, according to the tradition, none of the 
chieftains who were assembled could effect. 
At this time it chanced that the son of 
Arthur's foster-father in a contest broke his 
sword, and Arthur, recollecting the sword 
in the stone, ran for it, and drew it out with 
ease. The foster-brother knowing the im- 
portance of the sword, preferred his own 
claim upon the evidence of the sword, but, 
it being judged proper that the sword 
should be replaced in the cleft, and the 
experiment repeated, it was found that 
Arthur only could draw it out again, and 



* In the myddes thereof was lyk an anvyld of steel a 
ffote of hyght, and therein stake a fayre sword. Morte 
Arthur, 



88 POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 

thus his title was established. That this 
manoeuvre was Druidical the circum- 
stances are sufficiently convincing, and 
though London and Winchester are, by 
different writers, mentioned as the scene 
of the transaction, it is more probable that 
it was either at Silchester or Stonehenge, 
as the one was a station of the army, the 
other of the national assembly, which is 
most likely to have been the place for that 
reason. The ceremony of the coronation 
is said to have been performed by Dubri- 
cius, archbishop of Carleon ; and it may 
be inferred from its being so said, that the 
religious differences were, for a time, com- 
posed, in order to unite for the expulsion 
of the common enemy. The effect of such 
an union was soon felt by the Saxons ; 
whom, according to Nennius, Arthur, at 
the head of his countrymen, defeated in 
twelve pitched battles, in each of which 
he displayed a prowess and sagacity far 
beyond his years. The last, and most cele- 
brated, was the battle of Baddon-hill, near 
Bath, in which he is said to have killed 
upwards of six hundred with his own hand. 
In this battle Arthur is said to have worn 



POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 89 

a device called Prydwen, either on his 
helm, or his shield, and the sword Caliburn, 
which was made at Glastonbury. The de- 
vice is said, in one copy of the Chronicle, 
to have been a crom; in another and later 
copy, an image of the Virgin. These are 
the interpretations of the writers, but, I am 
afraid, the name of the device proves that, 
at this time, Arthur was attached to 
Druidism, for it has, I think, been suf- 
ficiently proved, that it signifies the 
* sacred ship, or symbol of the ark of 
Noah, exhibited in the Druidic cere- 
monies : and William of Malmesbury has 
very unconsciously proved, that there was 
an establishment of a Druidical society at 
Glastonbury in this very period, having 
conceived it to be that of a Christian mo- 
nastery. As the explanation is necessary to 
the history of the far-famed Caliburn, it 
may not be deemed superfluous to intro- 
duce it here. According to this author -f*, 
" twelve of the descendants of Cunedda, 
" coming from the north, took possession 



* Mythol. of the Druids. Page 517. 

t De Ant. Glast. Apud Gale. Page 295, 



90 POPULAR ANTIQUITIES 



66 of Venedotia, Demetia, Buthir, (Guhir, 
" or Gower,) and Kedweli, in right of 
" their great grandfather/' (others say 
their father,) " Cunedda. One of them 
" was called Glasteing, and this/' says 
Malmesbury, " was that Glasteing, who, 
" pursuing his sow through the midland 
" territory of the Angles by the town of 
" Escebtiorne, (<^w. Shepton Mallet,) to 
fi Wells, and from Wells, along a wet by- 
'' road, which we call Sugewege, (Sow- 
" way,) found her suckling her young 
" under an apple-tree near the church we 
" are speaking of : (viz., Glastonbury) and 
" hence we even yet call the apples of that 
" tree, old-church apples. The sow also 
was called, the old-church sow, because, 
though that other swine had but four 
legs, she had eight. Here Glasteing 
u finding the situation advantageous in 
" many respects, fixed the habitation of 
" himself and family, and here he died." 

A story of the same kind is told in the 
Welsh Triads, and Cambrian Biography of 
Coll ap Coll Frewi, following the sow of 
Dallwaran Dalben, from Gwent in South 



(C 



i« 



POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 91 

Wales to Lleyn in Carnarvonshire. The 
author of the Mythology of the Druids *, 
considers the sow as symbolical of the ark, 
and it is remarkable that Malmesbury cha- 
racterizes the sow of Glasteing as having 
had eight feet. As in the Welsh language 
hwch signifies a sow, and cwch a boat, I 
strongly suspect, that the former name was 
adopted to disguise the mystery : as ap- 
proximating sufficiently in sound to inti- 
mate the sense to the initiated. The sow 
then with eight feet represented the boat, 
that is, the ark, with its eight supporters, 
or eight priests, as representatives of the 
eight persons saved in the ark ; and these 
were what Glasteing found reposing under 
the apple-tree, a representative also, I pre- 
sume, of the tree of life. When the boat 
was called a sow, for the same reason would 
its priests be called its pigs, whether for 
concealment by the friends, or in derision 
by the enemies, of the superstition. 

Hence then it appears, that in the fifth 
or even sixth century (for Cunedda died 

* Page 481. 



92 Popular antiquities, 

at the close of the fourth) there was an 
establishment of Druids at Glastonbury, 
and, as the mighty sword Caliburn was 
wrought there, the reason of its having 
been so, was evidently to give it the credit 
of magic power, which no enemy could 
withstand, a credit which, in the hand of 
an Arthur, it was likely to sustain; and 
which the minstrel did not suffer to fall into 
oblivion. 

The victory at Baddon-hill was of great 
importance to the British cause, and it is 
not improbable that many of the fugitives 
were pursued and driven to embark, having 
lost their leaders, or it being rumoured 
that they were slain, as the Welsh Chro- 
nicle states. The expressions of this Chro- 
nicle are too general to be taken strictly, 
and the fact seems to be as Higden has 
stated it : that a peace was concluded be- 
tween Arthur and Cerdic, upon the con- 
ditions that Arthur, ceding Wessex to 
Cerdic, should retain the title and privi- 
lege of sovereign paramount. 

The interval between the conclusion of 



POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 93 

this peace, and Arthur's war with the 
Picts and Scots, as well as the motives to 
this war, are omitted by the Chronicle. 
Tradition has, however, preserved some 
circumstances from which, though involved 
in the fabulous guise of popular stories ; 
some probable account may be elicited. 

From what has been said it may be as- 
sumed, that Arthur was hitherto a votary 
of Druidism ; but Christianity was, at the 
same time, making a rapid progress, and 
Druidism seeking shelter in the mountains 
of Snowdon, the recesses of Anglesey and 
Somersetshire. Arthur, now at peace with 
his neighbours, seems to have given him- 
self up for some time to the idle and dan- 
gerous pursuits of youthful pleasures, and 
for those of the chace, to have made 
choice of Caerwys and Nannerch, in Flint- 
shire, in North Wales. An anecdote of 
him whilst there may be seen in page 359 
of the Collectanea Cambrica, Vol. I., which 
will justify this opinion. In the mean time 
his people became dissatisfied, and he is 
said to have dreamed that his hair fell 
from his head, his fingers from his hauds, 



94 POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 

and his toes from his feet, and having re- 
quired an explanation of the dream was 
told, that his dominion was falling from 
him, and could be recovered only by 
means of a lion in steel, the entreaty of a 
blossom, and the advice of an old man. 
The dream may have been an invention to 
conceal secret intelligence, that his sub- 
jects were, as is usual in such cases, fail- 
ing in their attachment; and could only 
be recovered when the lion should be clad 
in steel ; when the monarch should arm, 
and exert himself for their safety. The 
two remaining particulars seem to present 
a choice of the parties of Druids or Chris- 
tians. This I conceive from the explan- 
ation given of the second and third. Of 
the second it is said, that being separated 
from his train in the chace he lost his way, 
and coming to the mouth of a cave en- 
tered it, and found within three gigantic 
beings, viz., an old woman, and her son 
and daughter. The mother and son wish- 
ing, lest their retreat should be discovered, 
to put Arthur to death ; the daughter by 
her entreaties prevailed so far, that the 
mother agreed to spare his life, if next 



POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 93 

morning he should be able to deliver a 
triad of truths. The conditions being ac- 
cepted Arthur was well entertained, the 
son played also exquisitely on the harp to 
amuse him. But when Arthur went to re- 
pose, the son laid over him an ox-hide so 
heavy that he could not move under it, but 
was confined by it till the son came in the 
morning to take it off. Arthur then deli- 
vered his triad of truths. Addressing the 
son, " You/' said he, " are the best harper 
" I ever heard/' c True !' said the old 
woman. " And you/' said he to her, " are 
" the ugliest hag I ever saw/' ' True 
5 again Y said she. " If I were once from 
" hence I would never come hither again/' 
said he. The truth of this was allowed, 
and Arthur set free. 

In this tale the description of the hag, 
her son, and daughter, correspond with 
that of the Druidic deities, — Ceridwen, the 
prototype of witches, her son Avagddu, 
and her beautiful daughter Flur, called in 
romance Blanche Fleur ; as also Arthur's 
imprisonment under the ox-hide, to that 
of the aspirants previous to their initiation 



96 POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 

into the mysteries. The tale, therefore, in- 
timates that Arthur was initiated, but con- 
ceived a disgust and hatred for the Druidi- 
cal superstition, and perhaps, in conse- 
quence of some menacing apparitions ex- 
hibited which his mind was too well in- 
formed to regard, and too spirited to bear, 
as he could not be wholly ignorant of Chris- 
tianity. It is dangerous to trifle with a 
sound understanding, and so the Druids 
seem to have found it. The advice of the 
old man is said to have been that of a 
hermit, and the purport of it was to re- 
build, or restore the churches which had 
been destroyed by the Pagans ; under the 
name Pagans, Druids, as well as Saxons, 
may have been comprehended ; for as the 
Christian churches were generally built on 
the site of old Pagan temples, the Druids, 
no doubt, had endeavoured, when able, to 
destroy them. But their power w r as now 
falling, never more to rise. The light of 
Christianity was dispelling the mist and 
darkness of ignorance which shrouded its 
spells in horrors, and creating an abhor- 
rence of the bloody sacrifices and super- 
stitious delusions of Druidism. 



POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 97 

It has been ingeniously conjectured by 
a learned Welsh antiquary from a com- 
parison of circumstances, and names of 
places given in the romance of the San- 
greal, that the borders of the Menai were 
the scenes of contest between Arthur and 
the Druids. What the Sangreal was in it- 
self has been much doubted. In the ro- 
mance itself the Sangreal is evidently de- 
scribed as a kind of cup, and * in the pas- 
sage referred to above, I have given my 
reasons for thinking it to have been, what 
I believe it was, the celebrated Santo 
Catino, now in Paris, a beautiful cup of 
a composition (probably glass) resembling 
an emerald. The word Graal is said, by 
Mr. Lewis Morris, on the authority of the 
Speculum Historicum of Vincentius, to 
be derived from Gradale, an old French 
word signifying a little dish ; and this seems 
to be the true signification. Was it origin- 
ally a divining cup of the Druids ? That di- 
vining cups were of the remotest antiquity 
we know from the history of Joseph, and 
a vestige of that kind of divination is yet 

* Collectanea Camb. Vol. I. P. 309. 
U 



98 POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 

observable in the practice of divining by 
the coffee or tea cup. If the Sangreal 
were sucli a cup, it would have bern con- 
sidered, when obtained by conquest, as 
the noblest trophy of the victory of Chris- 
tians over the Druids ; and, therefore, 
might have been represented as the object 
ef the war itself. Of course the vessel 
would be deposited in the place of the 
greatest security ; and whether this con- 
jecture concerning its original history be, 
or be not, well founded ; that the Santo 
Catino was at St. David's, and stolen and 
carried off from thence to Glastonbury, 
with other valuables, cannot now, I think, 
be doubted. I am not without some sus- 
picion, that during the establishment of 
the Druids at Glastonbury, the Catino, or 
Sangreal, had been preserved there, and 
that it was from the celebrity of this ves- 
sel the place took the name of Ynys 
Wydriisj, or the isle (or district) of the 
Little Glass, and that Merlin, when he 
went to Bardsey, sailed not indeed in it, but 
with it, that is, carried it with him thither; 
and that it was recovered by Arthur, and 
♦consecrated to the use of the church by 



POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 99 

St. David. The supposition gives at least 
something like a clue to the * romance of 
the Sangreal ; but, if correct, it does not 
admit of the idea, that it was the same as 
the Altar of St. David, which that saint is 
said to have brought from Jerusalem, un- 
less it be thought, that this was the altar 
of St. David's, and not a divining cup, 
and had been carried off by the Druids 
and recovered from them ; a supposition 
which appears to me less probable than 
the former. 

The next transaction noticed by the 
Chronicle, is an expedition conducted by 
Arthur against the Picts, according to which 
it appears that he was victorious in three 
engagements. After the last battle, the 
Picts are said to have retired to the isles 
of Loch Lomond. Whilst the Picts were in 
this situation, an army under an Irish or 
Erse chieftain, came over to the assistance 



* The name of Laancelot du Lac, the Knight of the 
Sangreal, seems referable to that of Pedrogyl Paladrddelli, 
or Pedrogyl of the shivered Launce, one of the knights of 
Arthur mentioned in the Triads. 

. H % 



100 POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 

of the Picts, and was routed and com- 
pelled by Arthur to return to Ireland : and 
Arthur, at the entreaty of his nobles and 
clergy, received the submission of the 
Picts to his government, and pnrdoued 
their former opposition to him. In the 
narrative of these events the historian has, 
in rather a confused manner, introduced 
a very short and fabulous account of Loch 
Lomond, which Arthur went to view when 
the peace was concluded. But as it is 
evident this lake was the last retreat of 
these Picts, as the historian terms them, 
this is a strong argument, that they were 
in reality the party of the Druids, and as 
Arthur was able to explore the lake, that 
their sacred places were entered and sub- 
verted at this time, and that it was thought 
prudent to substitue the name of Picts for 
Druids, in the same manner as that of 
Pelagians probably is in the legend of 
Germanus. 

This view of the subject is not only con- 
sistent with the subsequent part of the 
history, but is almost necessary to eluci- 
date it, as Arthur, immediately after this 



POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 101 

battle, is stated to have returned to York, 
and to have re-established the Christian 
churches which had been injured or 
thrown down, and appointed an archbishop 
of York. His victory seems also to have 
tranquillized his dominions, as he now ap- 
pointed also subordinate earls or princes 
of Scotland. At this time the peace with 
his Saxon neighbours continuing, he mar- 
ried Gwenhwyfar, daughter of the Earl 
of Cornwall, then esteemed the most beau- 
tiful of the British ladies; and some time 
after his marriage, whether from that spirit 
of adventure common in his time, or to 
employ his retainers, he built a fleet, sailed 
to Ireland, and from thence towards some 
isle, as it should seem, of the Hebrides. 
In a second voyage he extended his course 
northwards around Great Britain, and as 
the northern isles were probably peopled 
by Norwegians, or, perhaps, because it was 
really the fact, he is said to have reached 
Norway. As he is represented as vic- 
torious through the whole course of this 
voyage, it may have been successful, what- 
ever was its real object ; whether retalia- 
tion, investigation, or acquisiton, of what 



102 POPULAR ANTIQUITIES, 

— «——»——■ ■■! ■ ■■— II ■ M II W ' ' 

was then deemed the honourable advan- 
tage of adventure. On his return he is 
said to have overcome otie Frollo, or Rollo, 
at Paris. But the Paris of the Chronicle 
is Calais, or Witsan (the name being a 
mistake of the translator), and that such 
an encounter should have taken place 
there, is no way improbable. Between 
these two voyages an interval of twelve 
years of peace is interposed by this writer, 
during which the court of Arthur became 
the resort of men of talents and celebrity ; 
his fame increased to an eminent degree 
of splendour ; and he was himself excited 
to an ambition of universal conquest, by 
the complimentary adulation paid to his 
merits. This is too like the exaggeration 
of a romancer to gain full credit ; but as 
he was in peace with his Saxon neigh- 
bours, he may have contemplated and 
performed the circumnavigation of the 
whole island, a labour of enterprise and 
difficulty in his time, which alone might 
justify, to a great degree, the exalted re- 
putation his name has acquired. The se- 
cond expedition is said to have taken up 
nine years, including in this time a con- 



POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 103 

siderable poition passed in Gaul. Accord- 
ing to Johannes Ma^us, a Swedish his- 
torian *, u Harold, k-ader of the Danes, 
" being overthrown in battle by Tordo, 
Ht king of Sweden, fted to Britain to king 
" Arthur, to collect succours in defence 
" of his nation, which were granted, and 
" a large fleet was assembled from Britain, 
" Gaul, and Holland, and sent to the 
" rescue of the Danes." The historian, 
however, adds, that M Arthur having at 
" the head of the combined forces gained 
" the victory, the Danes found a like op- 
" pression, under which they were long re- 
" tained, not only from the Angles and 
" Scots, but also from the Norwegians, 
" Arthur having made his relation Loth 
" their chief, as the Scottish history testi- 
" fies." 

If this account be correct, the exploits 
of Arthur will assume a higher character 
than they have hitherto held in general 
estimation, and considering the confused, 



* Hole's Arthur. Kote to Book V. P. 162. Ed. Lond. 
1789. 



104 POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 

and perhaps, deserted slate of the northern 
countries at this time, when the great ir- 
ruption of the Northern nations was bear- 
ing down on the Roman empire, it is no 
great concession to grant that much of 
that might be true, as to Norway and 
Denmark, which is well known to have 
been true as to the more powerful and 
populous country of Britain. Countries 
drained of their warriors present an easy 
conquest to their invaders. The expe- 
dition may, however, have had an ul- 
terior object, which seems to be intimated 
by Arthur's landing in Gaul ; the more 
probable object is the transportation of 
troops from the north to reinforce the 
armies engaged with the Romans, an ob- 
ject which would require the junction and 
united aid of such a fleet as Magnus de- 
scribes ; and for which, as against a com- 
mon foe, the northern nations had found 
it as necessary as it was eventually profit- 
able to unite. 

When Arthur had returned from Gaul 
he made Carleon the seat of his residence, 
which clearly marks that the Saxons were 



POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 105 

still in possession of the eastern districts. 
Here he is said to have once more devoted 
himself to the enjoyments of a more tran- 
quil life. Whether his sovereignty had not 
been till now acknowledged by the subor- 
dinate kings, or whether his success, and 
the admiration of his conduct, had made 
it the more feasible to gratify his ambition 
and his taste for magnificence, does not 
appear ; but as it was of great importance, 
and circumstances favourable, he now held 
a great festival for the formal coronation 
of himself and his queen Gwenhwyfar. 
The description of the ceremonial, and of 
the feast given in the Chronicle, is probably 
taken from the songs of the minstrels, who 
endeavoured to grace it with all their 
powers of decoration. Still, however, tra- 
dition gave the subject in such a favorable 
form as to be held a sufficient authority. 
The institution of the Round Table, to pre- 
vent any dissatisfaction among the guests, 
has been uniformly assigned to Arthur upon 
this occasion ; and the novelty and adroit- 
ness of the expedient, could not fail to 
make a lasting impression on the minds of 
the guests so relieved from the constraint 



106 POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 

of punctilio without any loss of dignity; 
and prepared to enjoy the festivity with 
that pleasantry, which the sagacious good 
nature of their host, and the humorous 
proposal, tended to promote. To furnish 
the feast the writer has gone for guests, 
probably, the whole extent of his geogra- 
phical knowledge, which is not very accu- 
rate. He may, however, have been less 
extravagant than he appears to be. The 
descendants of Roman legionaries may 
have retained the names of their original 
countries as family distinctions, and a 
prince of Spain have been, in fact, a chief- 
tain of a clan of such Spanish origin, then 
resident in Britain. 

Soon after this feast Arthur is said to have 
received a summons from a Roman general 
then in Gaul to pay a tribute as due to 
the Roman state, which, if the Roman af- 
fairs there wore any thing of a favourable 
aspect at the time, would not be likely to 
be omitted by a general of their's, who, it 
should seem, was pressing Britany. But as 
no time for such a message could be more 
unseasonable, or a proposal more irritating 



POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 107 

to a high-spirited king, he returned it by 
a defiance and a menace ; which, as far as 
joining in opposition to the Romans, he 
appears to have put in execution : and, I 
am inclined to believe, that he was the 
person who is called Riothamar (probably 
a Gaelic designation), and said, by the his- 
torian, to have brought troops from Britain 
to Gaul, to act against the Romans. In 
this expedition he is said to have gone as 
far as Langres, and there may be some 
truth in it. But the history of what passed 
in Gaul in this age is so obscure, that 
there is little to be known, and that little 
seldom satisfactory. Human life seldom 
gives an advantage without a counterpoise. 
Whatever may have been Arthur's suc- 
cess abroad, the treachery of his wife, 
and of his nephew Mordred, to whom he 
had intrusted the care of his dominions, 
was preparing to destroy him on his 
return, which he hastened on receiving 
the intelligence; and found that his ne- 
phew joined with the Saxons were ad- 
vancing to oppose re-entrance into his 
kingdom. The battle of Camlan, in Corn- 
wall, soon followed, in which he slew the 



108 POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 

traitor Mordred in single combat, hand to 
hand : but died himself in a few days in 
the abbey of Glastonbury of the wounds 
he had received, and was buried there. 
Thus fell this noble prince, betrayed by 
those he trusted most; but lamented by 
his country ; and leaving a record in the 
hearts of his people, which time has not 
been able to obliterate. Whether it was 
that his interment was concealed for some 
political purpose, and that there was a con- 
siderable time during which it was hoped 
he might recover, an idea of his resuscita- 
tion to rescue the Welsh was spread abroad, 
and the influence of such hope was great 
even down to the time of Henry II. This 
hope was founded on one of those prophe- 
cies which were, no doubt, originally pub- 
lished, like other false prophecies, for tem- 
porary purposes ; and being once credited, 
and its accomplishment desirable, was re- 
tained in memory, and the hope flattered 
and indulged from age to age. Yet I 
imagine that the prediction may at first 
have had a different reference. The name 
of our hero was also the sacred name of a 
mythological personage in the Druidical 



Popular antiquities. 109 

mythology, and there is reason to believe, 
that the British chiefs were accustomed to 
assume such names either on their initia- 
tion, or on the commencement of a great 
undertaking : and somewhat of this is 
usual with the Welsh poets still, who, on 
their being acknowledged as such, though 
without any formality, assume the names 
of ancient poets as their own poetic names, 
and prefix or subjoin them as such to their 
works. Hence it appears probable to me, 
that the prophecy of the reviviscence of 
Arthur was originally intended of the revi- 
viscence of Druidism, which its partisans 
might have no small hopes of, during 
the troubles which followed the death of 
Arthur. To their friends the meaning 
could be no secret, and to the public the 
more obvious reference was an encourage- 
ment to persist in the defence of their 
country, which they did with an unabated 
perseverance, till the happy union of 
Wales with England. 



110 POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 



OF FESTIVALS. 



SHROVE-TUESDAY, 



As the interval from the winter solstice 
to the vernal equinox was that which in 
northern climites afforded the greatest 
leisure to the hunter and the tiller of the 
earth, it appears to have been the season 
especially devoted to amusements, such as 
would engage a neighbourhood, and when 
towns arose to facilitate intercourse, to 
have been transferred to them. Hence 
may have been derived the mirth of the 
Carnival, of which Shrove-Tuesday now 
scarcely retains more than the name of 
a festival. The Carnival itself is a well- 
known festival of the Romish church, 
which is a continued one from Twelfth-day 
to the beginning of Lent. Going in mas- 
querade through the streets and to public 
places is the favourite amusement. Poly- 
dore Virgil considers this festival as the 



POPUFAU ANTIQUITIES. HI 

mill ■ II rw-nil ill «■■■■«. «y i-r I I n a— — 

same with the Roman Bacchanalia; but 
as the Lupercalia, Quinquatria, Saliorum 
ludi, and Hilaria, were all celebrated 
at this season of the year, it may more 
probably be thought, that the season in 
general was one of mirth, and the festival 
of the Romish church a true portrait of 
the pagan. The same author congratu- 
lates England, that the masquerading 
was never permitted in it, being, by the 
English law, he says, made a capital 
crime. He further thus very justly notices 
the absurdity of the preceding of such a 
time of licentious revelling to a fast *, " As 
" at the cohclusion of the festival, the an- 
" nual fast of forty days succeeds, there- 
fore throughout our Christian land 
great care is taken to feed luxuriously, 
in some cases even to gluttony, to gra- 
" tify, as it were, their subsequent hunger, 
" though their future abstinence is certain 
" not to be very temperate. For though 
" they abstain from bread and flesh-meat, 
" they will gorge themselves with sweet- 
M meats and unleavened bread, (pan- 

,'" i ' ■ ■ ■ i " I N M l ■ 

* De Rer. lnv. Lib. 5. Cap, 2* 



■ 



112 POPULAR ANTIQUITIES 



a 



cakes), and then boast of their fasting. 
" Thus they load themselves with sins, lest 
" at Easter they should have none to con- 
" fess to the priests, who, on confession, 
" are to absolve them/' It was from this 
earnest preparation for the fast, that 
Shrore Tuesday acquired the significant ap~ 
pellation of Guttling, or Guttes-Tuesday, 
which is not yet wholly obsolete ; and pan- 
cakes are still* sent up on this day at 
dinner with a persevering punctuality. 

The horrid custom of throwing at cocks 
is, I am happy to say, mostly, and, I be- 
lieve, wholly, abolished in Wales. 



LENT. 



There was within my memory a custom 
of wearing black clothes during this season, 
observed by some old persons, but, I be- 
lieve, it is now wholly laid aside. 

At this season, the penances performed 
in some popish countries, and particularly 



POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 113 

Spain and Portugal, are in the full extrava- 
gance of imagination, such as going about 
the streets with chains, and barefooted, 
scourging themselves in the churches, &c. 
The following curious anecdote, relative to 
such penances, is taken from the Welsh 
Chronicle of the princes. 

" When Ethelwolf (the father of Alfred 
" the Great) arrived in Rome, having on 
his journey seen persons of many na- 
tions, some of whom were naked, and 
others in chains, performing penance in 
" the most populous cities, which had ex- 
" cited his commiseration ; he prevailed 
upon the pope to grant, that no one of 
his kingdom should, in future, be en- 
joined to perform penance naked, or in 
" chains, either there, or when absent from 
" his native country/' 



a 



« 



u 



a, 



APRIL-DAY. 

The custom of sending persons on in- 
quiries or errands, which are to end in dis- 

i 



114 POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 

appointment and ridicule, well known 
under the terms of making April fools, 
though it may be, as Polonius would say, 
a foolish custom, is nevertheless interesting 
as to its history. That it was a general 
custom of the old Britons is evident, from 
its being still a general custom in all parts 
of Britain. It is, or has been so, likewise 
in France and Germany, as it is called in 
French, donner %im poisson d'Avril, that is, 
to give one an April fish, and the Germans 
call it, einen in den April schicken, that is, 
to send one on an April errand. What is 
still more singular is, that it is also the 
custom in India, and has been so from 
time immemorial. The following account 
of this Indian custom, is given by Colonel 
Pearce in the Asiatic Researches. Vol. II. 
I Page 334. 

" During the Huli, when mirth and 
" festivity reign among Hindus of every 
class, one subject of diversion is to send 
people on errands and expeditions, that 
are to end in disappointment, and raise 
a laugh at the expense of the person 
" sent. The Huli is always in March, 



POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 115 

• " " 

" and the last day is the general holyday. 
" I have never yet heard any account of 
" the origin of this English custom ; but it 
" is unquestionably very ancient, and is 
" still kept up even in great towns, 
" though less in them than in the country: 
" with us it is chiefly confined to the 
" lower class of people, but in India high 

* and low join in it, and the late Surajah 
" Dowlah, I am told, was very fond of 
" making Huli fools, though he was a 

* Mussulman of the highest rank. They 
" carry the joke here so far as to send let- 
" ters, making appointments in the name 
" of persons, who, it is known, must be ab- 
" sent from their houses at the time fixed 
" upon: and the laugh is always in pro- 
" portion to the trouble given/' 

A custom observed in the same manner, 
and at the same time of the year, must 
have been derived from a common origin, 
and be of so great antiquity as to be ac- 
counted for satisfactorily, only bv con- 
sidering it as having begun previous Co the 
dispersion of mankind over the earth. 

i 2 



116 POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 

Mr. Maurice * looks upon it as one of the 
sports originally introduced to celebrate 
the festival of the vernal equinox ; and as 
astronomical epochs and periods have cer- 
tainly been marked, in several instances, 
by festivals, it is very probable this was 
originally instituted for such a purpose. 
But as it is also to be remembered that it 
was on the first day of the first month, that 
is, at the vernal equinox, that Noah, after 
the flood, discovered the face of the earth 
to be dry, it is equally probable, that this 
circumstance may have given occasion, 
and certainly a very natural one, to the 
celebration of an annual festival at this 
season. If so, the generality of such a 
custom is accounted for without referring 
to a scientific motive, and the fact of its 
having been retained traditionally by na- 
tions so widely distant, rather favours this 
supposition, and if it be admitted as allu- 
sions to the circumstances which gave rise 
to the festival would consequently make 
parts of the ceremony, that of sending out 

• Indian Antiquities, Vol. VI. Page 71. Ed. 8vo. 



POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 117 

persons to seek what is not lo be found, 
and return disappointed, seems to hare 
been done originally in reference to the 
raven which Noah sent out of the ark; 
for it went to and fro, or more properly 
going from, and returning to, the ark, 
though not into it, but labouring in vain, 
till the earth became dry ; whereas the 
dove returned into it. Hence then the 
raven exhibited foily, and the dove wisdom 
and affection ; and, in a festival of mirth 
and joy, it was easy, by such an illusion, 
to sanction some ridicule on selfishness 
or simplicity. This, indeed, is no more 
than a conjecture as to the origin of the 
custom, and it is therefore only offered 
as the most probable that occured to the 
writer. 



MAY-DAY. 



If it were allowed, that the preceding con- 
jecture, as to the origin of the festivity of 
April-day, is correct, it might be also pre- 
sumed, that the festivity of this day was in- 



118 POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 

stituted in memory of the sacrifice of Noah, 
on his coming out of the ark on the twenty- 
seventh day following, and being restored 
to the light of the sun. And, undoubtedly, 
such must have been the lively and joyful 
effect on his mind, and the minds of his 
family, when, emerging from the ark, the 
full splendour of the sun burst upon their 
si^ht, as to have left an indelible impres- 
sion of the ecstatic delight of that moment. 
In the enjoyment of such a renovated ex- 
istence, nature herself afforded them an 
emblem in the issuing of the bird from the 
egg to record their preceding and their 
actual stare ; and hence, perhaps, the em- 
blematic mundane egg, probably, the origin 
of the Paschal egg, formerly presented mu- 
tually by friends at Easter. Whosoever 
considers what must have been their sen- 
sations on once more seeing the sun, after 
a deprivation of his light for twelve months, 
will not think it extraordinary, that this 
cause of happiness should hold an emi- 
nent, if not the first, place in the narrative 
of familiar tradition ; and that the solar 
worship should soon have been a conse- 
quence, even before the religious precepts 



POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 119 

of Noah were so far obliterated amongst 
the dispersed tribes, as that they should 
have been reduced to seek, in their own 
imaginations only, for an idea of the 
Deity. 

If the above conjecture be admitted as 
to the ceremonies of May-day; those of 
All-Saints, or All-Hallow Eve, may, in 
like manner, be referred to the mid-time 
of the flood ; when the patriarch and his 
family might be considered as at the re- 
motest distance from the light of day, and 
as representatives of the state of the de- 
parted. To this the customs of diving for 
apples, and consulting spirits, the regular 
ceremonials of the eve, seem to bear so 
decided an allusion as to go far towards 
confirming the hypothesis. Neither is this 
inconsistent with the idea, that these fes- 
tivals were intended to mark the equinoxes, 
and were combined with the solar worship. 
On the contrary, there are strong reasons 
to induce a belief that this was the fact, 
and that these seasons were distinguished 
as epochs of traditional history. The de- 
lineation of the celestial sphere is generally 



120 



POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 



admitted to have been originally made, as 
we have it, when the vernal colure passed 
through a Arietis, that is, when the vernal 
equinox was in that which was called the 
first degree of the constellation Aries. This 
was so in the year B. C. 1344. It is also 
evident from the number of signs, that the 
year was at that time, as indeed it was 
long before, held to consist of twelve 
months, and, as the precession of the 
equinoxes is so nearly one minute of a de- 
gree annually, or one degree in sixty years, 
it may be presumed it was so estimated, 
and this, probably, was the origin of the 

cycle * of 60. On this principle, the pre- 

" ' ■ 

* Whether this cycle, which is certainly very ancient, 
may have not been an antediluvian cycle, 1 will not venture 
to pronounce, though I am inclined to think so. Moses, 
however, seems to have calculated according to a cycle of 
100 years in the institution of the Passover. For, accord- 
ing to Dr. Hales' s Chronology, the exode, or departure of 
the Israelites from Egypt, was in the year 1507, or fifteen 
whole centuries after the deluge, correspondent to which 
were, as I conceive, the fifteen days of the month Nisan, as 
noting a precession of fifteen degrees in the vernal equinox 
at the time of the institution. Some reason for preferring 
the fifteenth day to the first for the festivals of both equi- 
noxes, there must have been, and I know of none more 
probable than this. It is remarkable, that Hipparchus esti- 
mates the precession at one degree in a century. 



POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 121 

cession from the epoch of the time of the 
deluge would have been about 15 degrees, 
and from that of the creation about 45 
from the first of Aries, and correspondent 
to about so many days after the equinox 
in the year B. C. 1344, and, consequently, 
nearly to the first of April and May, the 
times of these festivals. 

Whether then the patriarchial religion 
were corrupted or not, the patriarchial 
traditions were probably retained, and 
there is so evident a reference to it in 
many of the figures of the constellations on 
the sphere, * that it is hazarding little to 
assert, that these traditions are hierogly- 
phically represented by them, and that it 
was the original intent so to represent 
them. 

Thus considered, these festivals were of 
great importance to history, as they were 
a memorial of those great events. It has, 
in this attempt to illustrate their origin, 



* This has been shewn as to several instances, in an 
Essay on the Constellations, by the author hereof. 



122 POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 

been assumed, that the month called the 
first in the Mosaic account of the deluge 
was Nisan, or our March, and there are 
different * opinions concerning it, whether 
it was March or September, even amongst 
the Jewish commentators. But as Moses 
determines the first month by the Passover, 
there does not appear any reason for ima- 
gining he would have called any other the 
first in his writings ; and as it would have 
been inconsistent to do it without noting 
the difference, it is to be presumed he al- 
ways called it so in the same sense. 



EASTER-HOLYDAYS. 

Bourne, and after him Brand, have con- 
sidered playing at hand-ball as an exer- 
cise peculiar to this festival, but, I think, 
on very slight, and even wrong, grounds. 
It is an exercise which, at least in Wales, 
is common to every festival, when the 



* Rabhi Eliezer says it wasTizri, and Rabbi Joshua says 
it was Nisan, JR. Solomon Jarchi, on Gen, VIIL Vet. 15. 



POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 125 

ground is dry enough for the ball to re- 
bound from it, if he means the game call- 
ed in Wales Fives, in which the ball is 
played against a wall. Another species of 
this game, called stool-ball, resembling 
cricket, except that no bats are used, and 
that a stool is a substitute for the wicket, 
was, in my memory, also a favourite game 
on holydays, but is now, like many other 
rural games, I believe, seldom, if ever, 
played. These amusements generally be- 
gan on Easter-eve, and were resumed after 
Easter-day. 

On Easter-day itself, sedulous care was 
sometimes taken to induce young people 
to be up early to see the sun dance, which, 
according to the traditional knowledge of 
antiquated dames, he always does at his 
rising on that day, in honour of the re- 
surrection of our Lord. The proof of this 
phaenomenon would be worthy of that ve- 
nerable female philosopher who once ex- 
claimed : — 

Nay, if he says, the world is round, 
Your cousin's sure a clencher : 
For you may see that all the ground 
Is as flat as any trencher. 



124 POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 

Should any urchin be hardy enough to 
doubt the fact, a bason of water was 
brought out, that (as it would hurt the 
eyes to look directly at the sun) he might 
view the reflection of it from the water > 
where the evidence was seldom defi- 
cient. 

Easter-day itself is kept as the Sunday 
is generally kept in Wales, that is, with 
much and becoming respect to the sacred- 
ness of the day. It is also marked by 
somewhat of better cheer, as a festival, of 
which lamb is considered as a proper, con- 
stituent part. In some places, however, 
after morning-prayer, vestiges of the Sun- 
day sports and pastimes remain. 

It is thought (or was thought so) neces- 
cessary to put on some new portion of 
dress at Easter, and unlucky to omit doing 
so, were it but a new pair of gloves or a 
ribband. This idea is evidently derived 
from the custom of former times, of bap- 
tizing at Easter, when the new dress was, 
in some degree, symbolical of the new 
character assumed by baptism. 



POPULAR A/STTIQCJITIES. 125 



On Easter Monday and Tuesday a ce- 
remony takes place among the lower 
orders in North Wales which is scarcely 
known, I believe, elsewhere. It is called 
Lifting, as it consists in lifting a person in 
a chair three times from the ground. On 
Monday the men lift the women, and on 
Tuesday the women lift the men. The ce- 
remony ceases, however, at twelve o'clock 
each day. The lifters, as they are called, 
go in troops, and, with a permitted free- 
dom, seize the person whom they intend 
to lift ; and, having persuaded or obliged 
him (or her) to sit on the chair, lift, who- 
ever it is, three times with cheering, and 
then require a small compliment. A little 
resistance, real or affected, creates no 
small merriment; much resistance would 
excite contempt, and perhaps indignation. 
That this custom owes its origin to the 
season needs no illustration. 



WHITSUNTIDE. 

To this festival the only appropriated 
amusement that I know of, is that of mor- 



126 POPULAR ANTiQUTTIFS. 

rice-dancers. It is somewhat singular, 
that an amusement mentioned by Shake- 
speare should have not been noticed by 
Bourne or Brand. According to Shake- 
speare, it should seem, that the number 
of persons who represented this dance 
was nine ; and, as the tune to which they 
dance is, as far as a recollection many 
years back can trace it, Country Bump- 
kin, which is danced also by nine, it may 
be the correct number. The dancers are 
all men ; their dress is ornamented with 
ribbands, and small bells are attached to 
the knees. The dance itself is somewhat 
like that of Country Bumpkin; and, in the 
course of it, some one of the more active 
exhibits a kind of somerset, with the aid 
of two others. They are attended by a 
Jack and Gill, or, as they are called in 
Wales, the Fool and Megen. The fool is 
the same as the clown of the old comedy ; 
the megen, a man dressed in women's 
clothes, and with the face smutted to re- 
present a hag. Both entertain the mob 
by ridiculous tricks ; and the megen gene- 
rally solicits contributions from the spec- 
tators, and keeps off the crowd by the 



POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 127 

dread of blows of her ladle. What is the 
real origin of this kind of dance, it is very 
difficult to say. Shakespeare calls the 
dancing-ground the Morris. If I under- 
stand him rightly. 

The nine men's morris is filled up with mud. 

Mids. Night's Dream. Act II. 

In many parts of the country there were 
formerly patches of ground levelled for 
dancing, and one of these seems intended 
here. Brand, p. 193. 

In the admirable publication of Frag- 
ments, by a young lady, the following cus- 
tom is noticed. 

" On Whit-Monday all the country 
" people must be up at three or four 
" o'clock in the morning to keep holyday, 
" on pain of being pulled out of bed, and 
" put in the stocks by their companions ;" 
a custom which, I can only conjecture, 
arose from the early matins formerly, 
and which, perhaps, began on this day 
more early than usual, in order that a 
greater portion ol the day might be given 
to the festivities which were to follow. 



128 POPULAR ANTIQUITIES 



WAKES. 



These festivals, in commemoration of 
the dedication of parish-churches, are so 
fully treated of by Bourne and Brand, 
that I have little to add to what they have 
said. In Denbighshire they are generally 
celebrated about the beginning of Septem- 
ber, beginning on the Sunday after the 
day of the patron-saint of the church of 
the parish, and ending with the week, ac- 
cording to the computation, though the 
festivity of late years seldom exceeds the 
third or fourth day, and is mostly confined 
to the lower order. The Welsh name for 
the wakes, viz., Gwylmabsant, that is, 
the festival of the saint , indicates that this 
was a Christian festival originally ; and that 
the word wake, or wakes, signifies the vigil, 
or watching, on the eve or night previous 
to the festival. Of the same kind nearly, 
is the festival of the Rush-bearing, that is, 
the Sunday, on which fresh rushes were 
formerly laid on the floors, and in the 
pews of the churches. This was celebrated 



POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 129 

on the Sunday only. But, since the 
churches have been put in better order, it 
is, I apprehend, dropped. 



ALL-HALLOW EVE, 



The usual entertainments on this eve 
are so happily described by Burns in his 
Hallow-Een, as to leave very little more 
to be told. Few, if any, of those he has 
noticed, were unknown in Wales. Their 
general object, besides the promotion of 
mirth, appears to have been to learn the 
fate of individuals in the following year ; 
and chiefly as to marriage, and life or 
death, by the omens or apparitions of this 
oracular night. A circumstance which 
tends to prove, that the first of November 
was once, as I have before suggested, 
reckoned to . be the winter solstice, and 
beginning of the new year. It may well 
be imagined, that where the curiosity was 
great, and the mind simple and super- 
stitious, advantage would be taken to turn 



130 POPULAR ANTIQUITIES 



both into ridicule. The event of such at- 
tempts sometimes has, however, been very 
serious, from the effects of terror, as it will 
be imagined, when the nature of some of 
these modes of inquiring into the decrees of 
fate is explained- One of these is to go and 
sow hemp-seed in a churchyard. This is 
begun a little before twelve at night. The 
person who sows it goes around the church, 
repeating these words ; " Hemp I sow, let 
" him (or her) that comes after me mow." 
As the church clock strikes the last stroke 
of twelve the sower looks back, and, of 
course, never fails to see either a coffin, 
or the future partner in wedlock. This 
appearance of the partner is said to be 
frequently that of a person never seen be- 
fore, but, when afterwards seen, immedi- 
ately recognised, as in all other trials of 
the kind. Dangerous hysterics, in conse- 
quence of being terrified by the appear- 
ances at so lonely an hour, and in a place 
which may well create imaginary horrors, 
have been said to have terminated fatally. 
The same has also been said to have fol- 
lowed the listening at the great door of the 
church in order to hear the names of those 



POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 131 

who were to die the following year, when 
a person has heard his own name called 
amongst the first of those mentioned. In 
both cases the weak were played upon 
by their neighbours, or by their own 
imagination. But though they deserve to 
be so for their folly, which is not very in- 
nocent in its purpose, to explore what it 
does not please the Most High to reveal ; 
it is very unpardonable and wicked in 
others to risk the fatal consequences of 
terrifying them. Happily these practices 
, are now almost, if not quite, given over in 
Wales. 



CHRISTMAS. 



The substitution of a Christian motive 
and name, instead of the heathen ones, 
for festivals at the same time of the year 
seems to have had but very little effect on 
the nature of the festivities themselves on 
those occasions ; the sports and customs 
having continued much the same, though 
with a different reference, where it could 

k 2 



132 POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 

be introduced. The entertainment was 
the real object ; and this being permitted, 
the heathens were the more easily induced 
to change their religion ; an indulgence 
equally improvident and improper in the 
manner it was granted. 

The old customs of this season, amply 
detailed in Brand's Popular Antiquities, 
are, for the most part, 1 believe, common 
to Wales. The following is undoubtedly of 
British origin, and not noticed in that book. 
This is, that on Christmas-eve, a bunch 
of missletoe is suspended from the ceiling, 
and that each man bringing a woman 
under the missletoe, salutes her, and 
wishes her a merry Christmas and happy 
new year. " In * France also, the younger 
" country fellows about new-year's-tide, in 
" every village, give the wish of good for- 
" tune at the inhabitants' doors, with this 
" exclamation, Au gui Tan neuf; that is, 
" To the missletoe the new year ;" meaning, 
probably, Hail, or Come, to the missletoe ; 
it is the new year; the beginning of which, 

* Note to Polyolbion. Song 9th. 



POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 135 

as it has been observed, is very nearly 
marked by the falling of the berries of that 
plant. Both of these customs belong evi- 
dently to the Druidical system. 

Both Bourne and Brand have made 
large excursions into etymology, in order 
to discover the origin of the term jule, or 
yule, in yule-block; and, not seeking it 
where it was to be found, have had but 
little success. The word yule, is originally 
the Welsh word gwyl, that is, festival, the 
initial g in gwyl, being changed into y, as 
in yate, from gate. Hence the yule-block, 
signifies the festival-block ; as Christmas is 
in Welsh called gwylian, that is, the festi- 
vals (by pre-eminence) ; so the block is 
at present called bloccyn gwilian, or the 
festival-block. It is thought essential, that 
this block should be large enough (be- 
ginning at one end) to burn during the 
twelve days ; or at least so managed, by 
suffering part only to burn every day, as 
that it may last so long. 

Another custom, which is now in many 
places relinquished, was that of the Plygain, 



134 POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 

or service in the church, about three o'clock 
in the morning on Chrismas-day ; when, 
according to Mr. Pennant, * " most of the 
" parishioners assembled in church, and 
" after prayers and a sermon, continued 
" there singing psalms and hymns with 
" great devotion till broad day ; and if, 
" through age or infirmity, any were dis^ 
ff abled from attending, they never failed 
" having prayers at home, and carols on 
" our Saviour's nativity/' 



The Christmas-carol is still considered 
as essential to the duties of the day ; and 
a new one is, for the most part, composed 
every year, by some poet, or rhymer, of the 
neighbourhood, which is sung in the church 
after the morning or evening service : and 
as the carol is looked upon as an effort of 
genius, one which is approved of seldom 
fails to raise the reputation of the poet. 
The subject is of course taken from Scrip- 
ture, and the carol properly a hymn ; and v 
in some instances, exhibits much poetic 



* Tour, Vol. III. P. 161. Ed. 8vo. 



POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 135 

genius; particularly in those of Hugh 
Morris, who, with talents not inferior or 
dissimilar to those of Bloomfield, had the 
like merit of employing them to promote 
religion and virtue. 



136 POPULAR ANTIQUITIES, 



INTERLUDES, 



Whether it be from the generality of 
&, disposition to express the words or ac- 
tions of others in the manner of the original 
expression, when it has any thing peculiar, 
that scenic exhibitions derive their origin ; 
or from the particular conversion of a 
dispositon to mimicry in any individual ; 
they must be of great antiquity, since they 
are usual in every quarter of the old 
world ; and, if I recollect rightly, were so 
in Mexico, when first known to the Span- 
iards. When they were first introduced into 
Britain, I have found no intimation that 
could lead to determine; but they most pro- 
bably were so by the Romans ; as the plays 
represented still retain amongst the Welsh 
the title of Interlude, and seem to have 
been originally short plays introduced in 
the intervals of games, or exhibitions of a 
more splendid or attractive kind. Horace 
complains of interruptions of the regular 



POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 137 

dramatic performance occasionally for 
hours, 

Dum fugiunt equitum turmae peditumque catervae. 

and it may well be conceived, that in re- 
mote places, the taste for the drama was 
less refined, and more gratified by show 
and bustle, than by an entertainment which 
was a tax on its understanding and atten- 
tion ; though requiring such an amuse- 
ment through an affectation common to 
ignorance, of being able to relish what 
those, who have cultivated minds, really 
do enjoy. It would, however, be re- 
quisite for such an audience, that the play 
should be short and amusing, with some 
mixture of farce. Of this kind were the 
Atellanse, and, probably, those which were 
the entertainment of the Roman soldiery 
in Britain. If any inference in this re- 
spect from Welsh history, and the popular 
accounts of the courts of Uther and Ar- 
thur be admissible; it will be, that the 
Britons were greatly attached to the Ro- 
man shows and entertainments. The story 
of the transformation of Uther Pendragon 
by Merlin, has so much of this theatric 






138 POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 

cast, as to admit of the supposition, that 
it was taken from some dramatic exhibi- 
tion ; and from the later Welsh Chronicle 
it appears, that in A, D, 1107, Cadwgan 
ap Bleddyn, held a great Christmas festi- 
val according to the ceremonial of Arthur, 
where the bards and minstrels had new re- 
gulations and privileges, and were hand- 
somely recompensed for the exhibition of 
their talents ; and in A. D. 1135, GrufFudd 
ap Rhys held a feast at Ystrad Tywi, to 
which, the annalist says*, " were invited 
" all whom it should please to come peace- 
" ably from Gwynedd Powys, Demetia, 
" Glanmorgan, or Mercia. The feast was 
" amply furnished with every delicacy, 
" and adorned by discussions of the learn- 
" ed, poetic recitation, music, vocal and 
" instrumental, magical f plays, and all 
" kinds of exhibitions and manly games/' 
These magical plays seem to have been of 
the same kind as our Harlequin panto- 
mimes ; and though the name of Harle- 



* Brut y saeson. 

t See Collectanea Camb., Vol. I. Additional Notes, 
Page 363. 



POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 139 

quin may be of Italian, or rather Spanish 
origin, yet his being a magician is, I think, 
of British origin ; at least, in the Theatre 
Italien, harlequin is only, in general, an 
artful servant, who plays witty or hu- 
morous tricks subservient to the plot, and 
Merlin is the magican. Indeed, as far 
my recollection goes, this kind of theatric 
exhibition is so particularly connected with 
the British stage, as to induce me to be- 
lieve it originated here, and with the 
Druids, or Druidic minstrels. 

With these the Interlude was probably 
joined. Of this kind of composition, I 
am sorry to say, I have not been able to 
find, though I have heard of, a specimen 
worthy of translation; as the writers of 
those now in existence, composing for the 
populace, and being men of little or no 
education, have, consequently, been able 
to do no more than imitate vilely the com- 
mon traditional plan. The plan, however, 
is such as may be considered ancient. It 
consists regularly of a dialogue in dimiter 
catalectic iambics, which is broken into 
distinct parts by songs corresponding to 



140 POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 

the ancient chorus, and adapted to some 
popular tune. The dialogue is always 
spoken in a recitative, in which the voice 
marks the measure, by expressing the long 
syllables in one tone, and the short syl- 
lable in a tone a fourth lower ; except the 
last, which, when the line is catalectic, 
falls an octave. As this mode seems tra- 
ditional, it may, perhaps, have been that 
of the Romans. Two of the characters of 
these interludes, are constantly a miser 
and a fool, or jester; the others are mostly 
taken from some Scripture subject. Much 
attention to the laws of the drama is not 
to be expected, or found, in these compo- 
sitions ; but the original cause of the three 
unities subsist in full force, when they are 
performed. Having no change of scenery, 
the scene, for the most part, being a simple 
curtain, there can be no change of place ; 
and where the place appears the same, the 
unities of time and place are necessary to 
agree with the unity of the scene. Whether 
the stage is indebted to England for the 
improvement of the change of scene in the 
same play, or not, I am not certain ; because 
the pegmata seem to have been used for 



POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 141 

some such use, but too unwieldy for a 
ready change. It is, however, a very 
great improvement; though, by subverting 
the principle, it subverts the primary dra- 
matic rule of the mighty Stagy rite. 



14& POPUlAH ANTIQUITIES. 






OF WELSH MUSIC. 



On this subject there has so much been 
written, and the laborious researches of 
Mr. Jones, the result of which has been 
so fully and well given in his two volumes 
of Welsh music, that it may seem super- 
fluous to notice it here. But the field of 
research is seldom so limited, as, even in 
gleaning, not to afford something worthy 
of attention. If, therefore, a few things 
relative to that music, which have not, to 
my knowledge, been observed by others, 
be offered to the reader, they may be not 
wholly unacceptable. 

The character of national music has fre- 
quently and property been referred to the 
national character; and the peculiarities of 
the music of different nations have been 
very ably discriminated and explained by 
Dr. Crotch. There is, however, another re- 
lation of the peculiar character of music, 
which deserves notice ; and this is, its rela- 



POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 143 

tioit to the instruments to which, if any, 
it is adapted. Instances of this occur con- 
tinually in the treble part of Corelli's com- 
positions, which I refer to as so generally 
known. In these, the skips of the notes, 
from a low one immediately to one above 
an octave higher or lower, which are more 
easily performed on the violin, than per- 
haps on any other instrument, clearly shew, 
that this was the one to which this part of 
his music was adapted. In like manner 
it is observable, that the Welsh music 
was, in general, originally composed for 
the harp. For, in tunes of common time 
(and similarly in others), the bars, or half 
bars, comprehend generally, and almost 
universally, distinct sequences of notes, 
each of which is within the compass of the 
hand without moving it ; and when the pas- 
sages of a bar consist of several sequences, 
another sequence generally begins one note 
higher, or one note lower, than the pre- 
ceding. Thus the hand moved only at 
the commencement of each new passage, 
which gave a facility in the performance; 
very desirable when the art of fingering 
was in its infancy ; or, more properly 







144 POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 

speaking, which naturally arose from the 
incipient practice of the hand. This pecu- 
liarity of Welsh tunes may be observed in 
The March of the Men of Harlech, Pen 
Rhaw, Ar hyd y Nos, The Rising of the 
Lark, and others. These were, therefore, 
composed for the harp ; and are, probably, 
older than the time of Gruffydd ap Cynan. 
For if the tune, which goes by the name 
of his Delight, or Favourite, be of his 
age, as the name imports it to be; the 
greater freedom of composition, and some 
novelty of expression, accord well with 
the historic assertion, that the Welsh music 
was improved in his time. Dr. Crotch has 
observed, that the Welsh martial tunes 
have great excellence ; and he considers 
these as the peculiarly characteristic tunes 
of the Ancient Britons. His knowledge 
and judgment are so much known and 
esteemed, that his decision will, I presume, 
be readily admitted. It is hardly a compli- 
ment to say, I fully agree with him. There 
is also another characteristic of Welsh song 
tunes which depends on the nature of the 
Welsh language, and in a great measure 
appropriates them. In this language the 



^k 



POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 145 

accent, on words of more than one syl- 
lable, is always on the penultima, and 
the last syllable is, therefore, always short. 
Hence the last bar of a tune generally has, 
first a long note, then a short one, and 
the remainder, or the complement of the 
bar, is omitted ; as in the tune of, A noble 
Race was Shenkin, &c. 

It is somewhat singular that, though 
there is a Welsh tune called the Pipes of 
Morfydd, there is no one, in any collection 
I have seen, which can decisively be re- 
ferred to that instrument, as the one for 
which it was originally composed ; though 
most of the Scotch tunes may, I think, 
be so, for this reason: — I suppose the 
Scotch Pipe, like the Welsh Pibgorn, had 
but six finger-holes ; and, that the interval 
between the finger-holes were, as in the 
fife, equal. Hence as song tunes and 
others frequently begin a fourth below the 
key note ; and, in singing, those who have 
not been taught to sing, are apt to begin 
so ; the lowest note being D, the key note 
will be G, and its fourth above, natural ; 
but, by the simple raising of all the fingers, 

L 



146 POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 

the fourth above will be sharp; and it 
must have required considerable time and 
proficiency, to have found out the means 
of sounding the natural fourth; and, until 
this was done, it was necessary to omit it. 
From * this circumstance, I imagine, the 
oldest Scotch melodies, which omit the 
fourth, were originally composed for a 



* In a similar manner the reason why the grave or base 
tones are said to have been those of. the chorda sum ma, 
and the acute or treble those of the ima, is easily explained. 
In playing on the mandoline, lute, or the modern lyre, 
the instrument is so held, that the base string is the highest, 
and the treble lowest ; whereas in playing the harp it is 
otherwise. The mandoline is played with a quill (as the 
lyre was with the pecten), and seems to have been the first 
improvement of the lyre, of any consequence, by the addi- 
tion of the frets. 

The tibia dextrce et sinistrce of the Romans have not, 
that I know of, been hitherto satisfactorily explained ; but, 
as the bag-pipe was known to the Romans, and, in playing 
this instrument, the chanter is held towards the right side, 
and the drone thrown over the left shoulder, may not these 
circumstances have given rise to the denominations ? If so, 
dextrce and sinistrce, will signify treble and base, Varro 
calk thedextra, incentiva; and the sinistra, succentiva ; by 
which, I presume, means, that the right played the tune, 
and the left pipe the burden, which agrees with nay con- 
jecture. 



POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 147 

pipe of such construction ; and that the 
style, being once adopted, has prevailed 
in others ; though I do not pretend to offer 
this explanation as more than conjec- 
tural. 

To return to the Welsh music. Of the 
crwth, or crowd, I have not much to ob- 
serve. It appears to have been an im- 
provement on the rebec, or three-stringed 
violin, by the addition of an octave to 
each of the three strings ; so that each of 
the three original strings, with its octave, 
might be played together; and, for this 
purpose, the strings are very ingeniously 
arranged, it being in the power of the bow 
to add, or omit, the octaves at pleasure ; 
the octaves to the two first of the original 
strings being interior, and the third, or 
base string, with its octave sinking below 
the finger, so as generally to escape the 
bow ; these being struck with the thumb. 

"With respect to the harp, Mr. Jones has 
quoted a very curious passage from Gali- 
leo; in which that author asserts, that the 
harp was brought from Ireland to Italy. 

l 2 



148 POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 

And from a comparison of the scale of 
tuning the harp, as described by Galileo, 
with the scales of tuning given in the MS. 
of old Welsh music published in the Ar- 
chaiology, both appear to be on a similar 
system. In each the octave consisted of 
a double row of strings; one row of which 
was tuned regularly, according to the dia- 
tonic scale ; and in the other the tones 
necessary for accidental flats or sharps, or 
regular ones where the key note was taken 
higher or lower than that of the other row, 
were substituted for the unison. Thus, in 
Galileo's scale the co-efficient row, if I 
may so call it, has five semitones corre- 
spondent to those usually distinguishable 
by the short keys on a harpsichord. Of 
the scales given in the Welsh MS. I can- 
not speak with any confidence of more 
than two, viz., 

The first of these making C the key note ; 
but in order to play in G with the major 
third, gives, in the co-efficient row, F sharp 
only. The second scale, which is for G, 
with the minor third, gives B and E flat. 
According to Galileo, the diatonic and 



POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 149 

co-efficient, or chromatic rows, alter- 
nated sides in every octave ; and the row, 
which was on the right in one octave, was 
in the next on the left. In this, as it could 
not possibly serve useful purpose, he seems 
to have been mistaken. The probability 
is, that the compass of the right hand 
had the co-efficient row on the left, and 
vice vers& ; and that the co-efficient row 
was played occasionally, exactly as the 
middle row of strings on the three-stringed 
harp is at present. This similarity agrees 
well with what is said by Galileo ; and his 
statement as to the introduction of the 
the harp into Italy derives great probability 
from another circumstance. 

Strange as it may appear, it is evident, 
from the words of Giraldus Cambrensis 
himself, that he knew little or nothing 
of the music of the harp ; and seems never, 
before he went to Ireland, to have heard 
this, or any other, than the slow and simple 
chant sung in unison, and without much 
variety in the service of the church. How- 
ever this happened, when he did hear the 
harp, he was in raptures. In his description 



150 POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 

of this music he has laboured so much to 
communicate his ideas of it, as to make 
it somewhat difficult to follow it closely 
in a translation ; but, as it is very curious 
in itself, it is necessary for the present 
purpose, to attempt such a translation 
from the original passage in the Topo- 
graphy of Ireland, Book iii. Chap. 11. The 
instruments of music in use in Ireland were, 
the harp, and one which Giraldus calls 
tympanum, commonly understood to sig- 
nify a arum ; but which I believe to have 
been the common dulcimer, playeH on 
with sticks, and admitting two notes to 
be struck together as a chord ; and, there- 
fore, it may be comprised properly, which 
the drum could not, in the following de- 
scription : — 

" In musical performance this nation 
" (the Irish) has a superiority over every 
" other I have seen, beyond comparison. 
" For the modulation is not slow and 
" drawling, as in the British, to which I 
" have been accustomed; but quick and 
" hurried, and, nevertheless, sweet and 

pleasing. It is astonishing, that with 



<c 



u 



fit 



POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 151 

- 

" so rapid a celerity of fingering, the time 
" is kept correctly ; and that, without any 
" failurein the performance, an harmonious 
" consonance by thirds, or fifths, can be 
produced and filled up; though the pas- 
sages are twirling, and the instruments 
of a very intricate construction ; with so 
delightful a rapidity, so unequal an 
equivalence, and so discordant a con- 
" cordance. Yet they always begin B 
" molle, and * return to it, that the whole 
" may terminate with agreeable sounds. 
" With such delicate skill do they begin 
" and end the tunes, and so elegantly does 
" the treble run in multiplied notes, whilst 
" the notes of the base proceed in graver 
" tones, as to increase the pleasure, and 
" enliven the enjoyment, so that it seems 
" to be a great part of the art to conceal 
" the art. 

" Hence it is, that accurate observers, 



* I once thought, that a variation from the major to the 
minor key, was intended here ; but I rather think it refers 
to preluding, and to the cadenza still used in some Irish 
tunes. 



152 



POPULAR ANTIQUITIES 



6 who notice the secret principles of an 
; art minutely, derive an inexpressible de- 
6 light from the very circumstances which 
6 rather fatigue, than please, the ears of 
4 those who do not attend to them ; and 
6 may be said, to make no use of eyes or 
c ears. To such inattentive hearers the 
- music seems a confusion of disorderly 
' sounds, and they are soon weary of it." 



Such is the description of the Welsh and 
Irish music given by Giraldus, to which 
he certainly was not inattentive; though 
he insinuates, that his fellow-travellers 
were, and it affords valuable information. 
It appears, that his friends, who seem nei- 
ther to have had much curiosity, nor taste, 
for music, disliked that music, because of 
the variety of sounds which were heard at 
the same time, and because of the quick- 
ness with which the one succeeded to the 
other, though the melody and harmony 
were good. But as they had known no 
other than the olain chant sung in unison, 
and in very slow time, they might well be 
confused by the spirited and combined 
sounds of the harp, on which the treble 



POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 153 

and base appear to hare had nearly the 
same relation to each other as they have at 
present. Thus far is clear. It has been 
supposed, that it was the Welsh music, 
which Giraldus meant in his reference to 
British instruments ; but it was so far the 
reverse, that in his account of the Welsh 
music he identifies this with the Irish 
music, by repeating the very words of his 
description of the Irish music, as equally 
applicable to that of Wales. By the 
British instruments he must, therefore, 
have meant such British instruments as 
were not used either in Wales, Scotland, 
or Ireland. In the time of Giraldus the 
Irish musicians seem to have taken the 
lead, which might very well be, as Wales 
had been long harassed by war, and Ire- 
land tranquil. He also says, that the Welsh 
now endeavoured to imitate the Irish by a 
rival instiution, referring, as I should sup- 
pose, to the revjval of the study of music 
under new regulations by GrufFydd ap 
Cynan, which seems to have been neglected 
during the preceding troubles. It is said, 
that in this revival some improvements of 
the musical system were borrowed from 



154 POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 

Ireland. What these improvements were 9 
I cannot absolutely determine; but, if I 
may be allowed to judge from the names 
of some of the twenty -four variations of a 
ground as given in the MS. belonging to the 
Welsh School, they are so, because some of 
these names are indubitably Irish, and two 
of the scales of tuning the harp are deno- 
minated Irish. I should think, as these 
variations shew a knowledge of counter- 
point, that the improvement was in this 
respect ; and that, as the knowledge of the 
harp in Italy was derived from Ireland, it 
may not be going too far to imagine, that 
a knowledge of counterpoint and singing 
in harmonized parts, passed over with it. 
It certainly is very remarkable, that this 
part of musical science should have been, 
in any degree, knowni to the Welsh, Irish, 
and Scotch, at so early an age, when it was, 
I believe, unknown to the rest of the in- 
habitants of Europe ; yet the words of 
Giraldus leave no doubt of the fact, in all 
these respects. For, though he mentions 
singing in harmony, only with respect to 
the Welsh, the same, it may well be con- 
cluded, was, in some degree, the practice 



POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 155 

of the other two nations. He thus de- 
scribes it : " Their mode of singing (in 
" Wales) is not, as it is elsewhere, in 
" unison, but in different parts of various 
" modulation ; so that, where there is a 
" number of singers together, which is cus- 
" tomary in this nation, there will be 
" heard as many tunes as there are per- 
" sons ; which tunes, though differing in 
" notes, form one delicious harmony in 
" the key of B molle, and concur in form- 
" ing an artificial melody. In the northern 
" parts also of Britain, and in the vicinity 
" of York, a similar kind of harmony is in 
"use, but in two parts only; the base 
" performing a burden, and the treble 
" (or upper part) a lively and pleasing 
" air. This practice is not merely the 
" effect of scientific skill ; but has been 
11 acquired by each of these nations as an 
" ancient custom, so that its own has 
" grown into a natural habit, so invete- 
rate, that no simple air in unison, pleases 
either the former, who sing in many 
parts ; or the latter, who sing only in 
M two. Even the children, when in in- 



u 



cc 



156 POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 

" fancy they begin to sing, attempt to do 
" so in the same manner/' 

This description is so clear and precise, 
as to need no comment. The practice of 
singing in parts is, in Wales, so far lost, 
that scarcely a trace of it remains. I have 
been informed, that some years ago, a 
Welsh song, sung by four persons was 
known; which, by what I could collect 
from my informer, was a kind of glee ; but 
not having heard it, I can say no more. 
In singing to the harp, it is still usual for 
the singer to prefer note's which are chords 
to the leading notes of the tune to those 
notes, but in a very inartificial, though not 
irregular manner. 

Nothing can be more social than the 
Welsh mode, still in use, of singing to the 
harp. The harper plays some well-known 
tune, and each of the company, who is 
able do so, sings a stanza in turn. Those 
who are accustomed to this method, have 
generally in memory a considerable num- 
ber of these stanzas, on various subjects, 






POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 157 

and for various tunes. For the most part 
the sense is complete and distinct in each 
stanza, and it should properly have an 
epigrammatic turn. In Mr. Jones' col* 
lection of Welsh music, many specimens 
of them may be seen. Sometimes they are 
made extemporaneously, and well made ; 
and sometimes the verses of a song are 
successively sung by the different persons, 
instead of so many distinct stanzas in the 
same manner as the Vaudeville, which 
seems to have originated in a similar cus- 
tom. The singing of English songs in the 
same manner might, perhaps, be found as 
pleasing, as it would be a novel enter- 
tainment. 

I have been informed, that Mr. Edward 
Williams, of whose merits Mr. Malkin 
has spoken largely and justly, has been 
able to decypher the music of the Welsh 
School MS. ; but, not having seen what he 
has done, I cannot do more than men- 
tion it ; with the wish that it were pub- 
lished, as I have no doubt, but that the 
music is ancient. The most ancient Welsh 



158 POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 

tunes, however, are, I believe, well known, 
which are, Hob y deri and Nos Calan, 
both Druidical ; and Reged, a tune, pro- 
bably of Cnnibrian origin; as the name 
is taken from Reged, a Cumbrian pro- 
vince. 



POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 159 



MARRIAGE CEREMONIES. 



When a marriage was to be celebrated, 
a bidder, that is, one whose charge was to 
bid or invite the guests, was appointed; 
a person of respectable character, and 
as well gifted with eloquence and address 
as could be procured, as on his success 
the number of the guests chiefly depend- 
ed. He was also to be sufficiently skilled 
in pedigrees and anecdotes of families, to 
be able to introduce compliments derived 
from these sources occasionally. As ensigns 
of his office, his bonnet and staff were adorn- 
ed with wedding garlands ; and, thus ar- 
rayed, he visited the halls, and other dwel- 
lings of the vicinity. This character was 
formerly undertaken by a chieftain, in fa- 
vour of his vassal ; and his person was re- 
spected by hostile clans, as that of an he- 
rald. The purport of his bidding was, both 
to request the attendance of the friends of 
the young couple, and their benevolent 



160 POPULAR ANTIQUITIES* 

presents, or contributions, in order to en- 
able the new-married pair to begin their 
new mode of life with comfort, and the 
means of prosperity. These contributions 
were, and yet are, in some article of fur- 
niture, outstock, or money; and are re- 
gularly repaid by contributions of a similar 
kind, on like occasion ; and, by this most 
excellent custom, worthy of general adop- 
tion in every parish, a provision is made 
without any great inconvenience to any 
individual ; and yet such collectively sets 
a deserving young couple at once in a 
state of comparative wealth and independ- 
ence. 

The duty of the bidder, if well perform- 
ed, reflected as much honour on himself, 
as profit in his reward, when hired for the 
purpose. On entering a hall, or dwelling, 
which he took care to do when the family 
was assembled, and guests, if any, with 
them, and all in good humour; then striking 
the floor with his staff to demand atten- 
tion, he, with a graceful bow, began his 
address. This was sometimes a prescribed 
form, but more frequently otherwise, and 



POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. l6l 

diversified according to the genius of the 
speaker, and the character of his auditory, 
so as to compliment, please, and induce 
them to comply with his invitation. At 
present, the invitation is sometimes by 
hand-bills, of one of which the following is 
a copy : — 

" Carmarthen, March 20th 9 1802. 
" As I intend to enter the matrimonial 
state, on Easter-Monday, the 19th day of 
April next, I am encouraged by my friends 
to make a Bidding on the occasion the 
same day, at my dwelling-house, known 
by the sign of the Green-Dragon, in Lam- 
mas-street ; where the favour of your good 
company is humbly solicited ; and what- 
ever donation you will be pleased to confer 
on me then, will be gratefully received, and 
cheerfully repaid, whenever demanded on 
a similar occasion, by 

" Your humble Servant, 
" DAVID THOMAS. 

" %$* The young man's mother, brother, and sister 
f Hannah, Richard, and Phoebe Thomas J, de- 
sire that all gifts of the above nature, due to 
them, may be returned to the young man orj 
the said day, and will be thankful for any ad- 
ditional favours bestowed on him." 
M 



162 POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 

The names of the visitors were registered 
in a book, that the compliment might be 
returned whenever it might be proper to 
do so ; and the regular festival of national 
games and pastimes on these occasions in- 
creased the number of visitors. 

On the day of the ceremony, the nup- 
tial presents having previously been made, 
and the marriage privately celebrated at 
an early hour, the signal to the friends of 
the bridegroom was given by the piper, who 
was always present on these occasions, 
and mounted on a horse trained for the 
purpose ; and the cavalcade, being all 
mounted, set off full speed, with the piper 
playing in the midst of them, for the house 
of the bride. The friends of the bride in 
the mean time raised various obstructions, 
to prevent their access to the house of the 
bride, such as ropes of straw across the 
road, blocking up the regular one, &c, 
and the Gwyniyn, (literally the Vane J, 
corrupted in English into Quintain, con- 
sisting of an upright post, on the top of 
which a spar turned freely. At one end 
of this spar hung a sand-bag, the other 



POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. l63 

presented a flat side. The rider in passing 
struck the flat side, and if not dexterous 
in passing was overtaken, and perhaps 
dismounted by the sand-bag, and became 
a fair object of laughter. The Gwyntyn 
was also guarded by the champions of the 
other party ; who, if it was passed success- 
fully, challenged the adventurers to a trial 
of skill at one of the twenty-four games ; 
a challenge which could not be declined; 
and hence to guard the Gwyntyn was a 
service of high adventure. When these 
difficulties were over, or the bridegroom's 
friends had anticipated the arrangement, 
they hasted to the bride's abode ; and if 
the door was shut against them, assailed 
it, and those within, with music and 
poetry, particularly the latter, in strains 
of raillery. If the latter could not be re- 
torted from within, the door was opened ; 
and, by a little management, the bride- 
groom's friends contrived to draw the 
bride out of the company, and bear her 
off as in triumph. Her friends at a con- 
venient time, discovered her flight and 
pursued, and, if they overtook the other 
party, a mock encounter took place ; in 

m 2 






164 POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 

which the pursuers acknowledged their 
own inferiority, and the bride was brought 
safely to the bridegroom's house, and the 
whole party received with the greatest 
kindness and welcome. The remainder of 
the day was passed in festivity. Trials of 
skill on the national games first took place ; 
and, after these, singing to the harp and 
dancing, prolonged the entertainment to a 
late hour. 

Such is the account of this ceremony, 
which I have been permitted to extract 
from a valuable manuscript of a gentle- 
man well informed on the subject. 

This curious ceremony is, I believe, as 
the semblance of carrying off the bride 
makes a part of it, confined to some dis- 
tricts of South Wales; that of contributing 
to the settlement of the newly-wedded 
pair, by presents of furniture, &c, is also 
usual in North Wales ; and hence it may 
be inferred, that the custom, partially 
known, is not of British origin ; and I 
believe it was introduced into this country 
by the Romans, who certainly had such a 



POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 163 

custom established, as it is said, v by Ro- 
mulus, in memory of the carrying off of 
the Sabine virgins. Rosini, in his Roman 
Antiquities, gives a description of the 
custom on the authority of Apulfcius, 
which exactly resembles the one in South 
Wales, viz., that when the bride was 
dressed, a multitude of armed men, flou- 
rishing their swords as if raging for battle, 
burst- into her chamber and carried her 
off, without any resistance on the part 
of her friends. The pipers were also the 
musicians. As the Romans were so 
long in Britain, and the families con- 
nected with them, or such as could not 
return when their legions were with- 
drawn, may have settled in South Wales, 
it is no great trespass on probability 
to conclude, that such was the real origin 
of this part of the ceremony. Whe- 
ther the Gwyntyn, or Quintain, was in 
use among the Romans, I am not certain, 
though I rather think not. The name is, 
I think, with the learned author of the 
manuscript above mentioned, decisively of 
Welbh origin ; and, in the custom of guard- 
ing the Quintain, the origin of the stories 



166 POPULAR ANTIQUITIES, 

in romance, in which a knight guards a 
shield hung on a tree against all adven- 
tures, is clearly perceived. 

Another part of the custom, and per- 
haps more ancient, is still more curious ; 
viz., that when the dopr is shut against 
those who come to take away the bride, 
admission is to be obtained only by the 
united powers of music and poetry, and 
it is impossible not to recognise in it an 
illustration of the well-known story of 
Orpheus and Eurydice, as a simple fact, 
no farther varied than, that Pluto is made 
the representative of a Thracian chieftain, 
who had carried off the wife of the Bard. 
It may surprise, that such an illustration 
can be found in a custom of this country, 
not yet wholly, I believe, relinquished, 
yet the comparison of the circumstances 
leave no doubt that it is applicable, and 
I have no doubt but, that many more of 
the supposed fables of antiquity, would 
admit of as simple an explanation as this 
of Orpheus, by an attention to popular 
customs and traditions. 



POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 167 

The fable of Apollo and Marsyas will 
supply another instance. It was the cus- 
tom of ev?ry British chieftain to have his 
household Bard, and it was the chieftain's 
ambition, and his honour, that his Bard 
should be the most eminent of the profes- 
sion in his power to obtain. But as Bards, 
however harmonious their strains, might not 
always live in harmony with their patrons, 
or their Bardic brethren ; the Bard of the 
household was sometimes obliged to seek 
a new one, or a rising genius wish to ob- 
tain patronage. Where this was the ob- 
ject, the Bard of adventure appearing at 
the door of the chieftain whose patronage 
he sought, challenged the household Bard 
in verse, either to resign a station of which 
he was unworthy ; or, if he hoped to main- 
tain it, to prove his superiority by a fair 
trial of skill. If the Bard of adventure 
was able to reduce the other to silence, or 
an unequal reply ; the station was ad- 
judged to him, and the other sent away ; 
and, as the dress of the household Bard 
was the gift of the chieftain, it was pro- 
bably stripped off without much cere- 
mony, and conferred on his successor. 



168 POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 

The contest between Apollo and Marsyas 
is of the same kind ; and the poetical flay- 
ing of the latter, will, in humble prose, be 
severe enough still, if it signify no more 
than the stripping him of the robes of his 
office, and turning him adrift, like the un- 
successful Bard of the Welsh chieftains. 
It is still but just to add, that, though the 
Bards were satirical to the utmost in their 
verses on each other while living, if either 
died, the other generally wrote a copy of 
verses to acknowledge his merits, and re- 
cord his fame. Of this there are a good 
many instances; and some been reconciled 
by a copy of such verses, written during 
the credit of a report that the adversary 
was dead. 



POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. l69 



CANWYLL Y CORPH; 



OR. 



CORPSE-CANDLE. 



In many parts of Wales- it is frequently 
asserted, that either previous to, or nearly 
at, the time of the decease of some per- 
sons, a light somewhat like that of a 
candle, is seen in or near the house, and 
that it sometimes is observed to go from 
thence to the churchyard. As this appear- 
ance is supposed to be supernatural ; it is 
to some too much* an object of terror, and 
to others too much that of ridicule, to 
suffer them to pay any particular attention 
to the cause; which, in all probability, 
might, however, be discovered to be sim- 
ple and natural, and of the same kind 
with that of the Jack-a-lantern, or Will-o'- 
the-wisp. The latter is known to arise 
from a peculiar gas, or mixture ofgasses. 



" 



170 POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 

which proceed from the earth, mostly 
where coal abounds, and are phosphoretic, 
and kindled by the atmospheric air or the 
breath. In the latter case, the Will-o'-the- 
wisp appears to go on before the person, 
being sustained by the breath. The corpse- 
candle appears to be precisely in the same 
way kindled and directed in its course, and 
probably arises from the effluvia of a body 
already in an incipient state of putrescence. 
It would, therefore, be worthy of philoso- 
phic observation, whether it is not always, 
when it does appear, to be traced to a body 
in such a state. In cases of cancer, a halo 
has, in more than one instance, been seen 
around the head of the patient when at 
the point of death, which is justly to be 
attributed to such a cause ; and, in like 
manner, other phenomena peculiar to such 
a time, may be rationally accounted for ; 
such as the birds of prey flapping their 
wings against the windows, they being at- 
tracted by the effluvia ; and the ringing 
of bells in the house, probably occasioned 
by the extrication of some electric prin- 
ciple after death, when putrescence com* 
mences. 



POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 171 

In South Wales another appearance is 
generally affirmed to take place before the 
death of some noted person, viz., a coffin 
and burial train are seen to go from the 
neighbourhood of the house, in the dead 
of night, towards the churchyard. Some* 
times a hearse and mourning-coaches form 
the cavalcade, and move in gloomy si- 
lence in such a direction ; not a footstep 
is heard, as they proceed along the public 
roads, and even through the towns, and 
the terrors of the few who happen to see 
them are spread over the whole neigh- 
bourhood. Of these appearances, the 
causes are, probably, artificial; and Lear's 
idea, of shoeing a troop of horse with felt, 
may be, in these instances, more than 
imaginary. They seem to be a remainder 
of those means by which the persecuted 
Druids performed their rites, transacted 
business, and eluded observation, under 
covert of superstitious fears excited in all 
around them. The investigation of the 
causes do not, therefore, come within the 
inquiries of the philosopher ; they may, 
probably, with propriety, be referred to 






172 POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 

1 ■ 

those of the revenue officers, as best able 
to give a satisfactory explanation and 
dispel all the apprehensions concerning 
them. 



POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 175 



BURIALS, 



When human cares terminate, and 
human attachments are rent asunder, by 
the departure of the spirit from its man- 
sion of clay, whatever may have been the 
previous apprehensions of the event, the 
affections of the survivors will not, on a 
sudden, yield to the full conviction of the 
loss sustained ; and the lifeless body re- 
tains some share of that affectionate re- 
gard which, when animated, it possessed. 
But its stillness is awful, and whilst the 
separated spirit may, even by suffering 
imagination to prevail but feebly, be sup- 
posed to hover over its newly-relinquished 
habitation, a sacred respect to what re- 
mains will be felt as a duty, and the so- 
lemnity of the moment will be increased 
by the image it presents, of that which 
the beholder must at one time present to 
others. 



174 POPULAR ANTIQUITIES, 

On such an occasion the customs of dif- 
ferent nations have varied much, accord- 
ing to their religious ideas and local situa- 
tions, but all agree in testifying respect 
for the dead ; the grief of the surviving 
friends, and sympathy, or a wish to con- 
sole, on the part of the neighbourhood. 
In uncultivated and rugged minds, grief 
is a burden, which they struggle to throw 
off in violent exclamations, and by frantic 
gesture ; they look to others for assistance, 
and, in the intermissions of exhausted ef- 
forts find a relief in the attempts equally 
rude of their friend to divert their atten- 
tion. Not so the gentler feeling. There 
grief sinks deep into the heart ; and brood- 
ing every remembrance of the past, mul- 
tiplies and cherishes its sorrows. With 
the more common and the rougher na- 
ture, the customary mode is to prevent 
reflection, and divert the attention; and 
hence it has been usual in some places, 
for the friendly neighbours to assemble in 
the house of mourning, and watch or stay 
up all the night previous to the funeral 
with the relations. The intent of this 



POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 175 

watching has, however, been often abused ; 
and instead of comforting the afflicted, 
the company have been so desirous of 
banishing all serious thoughts, as to turn 
the occasion into one of drinking and 
amusement ; and has, therefore, I pre- 
sume, been so far dropped as it is in North 
Wales, and very properly. 

" Previous * to a funeral/' says Mr. 
Pennant, " it was customary, when the 
" corpse was brought out of the house and 
" laid upon the bier, for the next of kin, 
" be it widow, mother, sister, or daughter, 
" (for it must be a female), to give, over 
" the coffin, a quantity of white loaves, 
" in a great dish, and sometimes a cheese, 
" with a piece of money stuck in it, to 
" certain poor persons. After that, they 
" presented, in the same manner, a cup 
" of drink, and required the person to 
" drink a little of it immediately. When 
" that was done, they kneeled down ; and 
" the minister, if present, said the Lord's 
" prayer; after which, they proceeded 

* Vol. III. P. 160. Ed. 8vo. 



176 POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 






« 



with the corpse, and, at every cross-way 
" between the house and the church, they 
" laid down the bier, knelt, and again re- 
" peated the Lord's prayer ; and did the 
" same when they first entered the church- 
" yard. It is also customary, in many 
" places, to sing psalms on the way ; by 
" which the stillness of rural life is often 
" broken into in a manner finely produc- 
tive of religious reflections. To this 
hour the bier is carried by the next of 
kin, a custom considered as the highest 
" respect that filial piety can pay to the 
" deceased. Among the Welsh it was 
" reckoned fortunate, if it should rain 
" while they were carrying him to church, 
" that his bier might be wet with the 
" dew of heaven." 



<c 



it 



After that the corpse has been brought 
into the church, and the lesson has been 
read, it is the custom, in some parts of 
North Wales, that a psalm is sung, and 
the clergyman being at the altar, while the 
psalm is singing, those who attend the 
funeral as friends of the deceased, ap- 
proach the altar in succession, and lay 



POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 177 

on a small bracket (which is provided for 
the purpose) an offering of money, accord- 
ing to the wealth of the offerer, and the 
respect for the deceased. This offering 
has been considered, as originally intended 
to pay for masses for the soul of the de- 
ceased ; but, I believe, it was originally 
an offering for the support of the clergy- 
man, as the custom is not, that I have 
been able to learn, known in England ; 
and the clergy of the ancient British church 
were supported chiefly by voluntary offer- 
ings on the public occasions. In other 
respects, the funeral is conducted gene- 
rally as in England ; but when the service 
is over, the friends who have attended it 
do, in many places, kneel down at the 
grave, and say the Lord's prayer before 
they depart from it, and for several suc- 
ceeding Sundays they repair to the grave, 
and do the same. In many parts, and 
especially in South Wales, the friends of 
the deceased take much and laudable 
pains to deck the grave with flowers. A 
bordering of slates or stones, is nicely 
run around it, and the top bound in by 



178 popular AfrTiauitifeS, 

atones, laid with taste, in a tesselated man- 
ner 9 which has an ornamental effect, whilst 
it feriiains a monument of a pious affec- 
tion, gratified in paying its last tribute to 
a beloved or revered object 



POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 179 



CONCERNING THE 

NATURE, MANNERS, AND DRESS; 



THE 



BOLDNESS, AGILITY, AND COURAGE, 
OF THE WELSH. 



From Sir Richard Hoare's Translation of Giraldus Cam- 

BRENSIS. 



This nation is light and active, rather 
than hardy and strong, and generally bred 
up to the use of arms. For not only the 
nobles, but all the people, are trained to 
war; and when the trumpet sounds the 
alarm, the husbandman rushes as eagerly 
from his plough as the courtier from his 
court. For here it is not found that, as in 
other places, the labour of the husband- 
man returns through a regular, annual suc- 
cession ; for, in the months ofJMarch and 
April only, the soil is ploughed for oats ; 
and twice in the summer, and once in the 
winter, for wheat. Almost all the people 
live upon the produce of their herds, with 

N 2 



180 POPULAR ANTIQUITIES 



oats, milk, cheese, and butter; eating 
flesh in a larger proportion than bread. 
They pay no attention to commerce, ship- 
ping, or manufactures ; and suffer no in- 
terruptions but by martial exercises. They 
anxiously study the defence of their coun- 
try, and their liberty. For these they 
fight; for these they undergo hardships ; 
and for these they willingly sacrifice their 
lives. The}' esteem it a disgrace to die 
in bed ; an honour to die in the field 
of battle. It is remarkable that this 
people, though unarmed, dares attack an 
armed foe. The infantry defy the ca- 
valry; and, by their activity and courage, 
generally prove victorious. They make 
use of light arms, which do not impede 
their agility ; small breast-plates ; bundles 
of* arrows, and long lances ; helmets and 
shields ; and, very rarely, greaves plated 
with iron. The higher class go to battle 
mounted on swift and generous steeds, 
which their country produces; but the 

* More probably short spears, viz., darts; as the bow 
is not mentioned, and was little if at all used by the South- 
Wales man, whom Giraldus more especially describes here. 
Ed. 



POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 181 

greater part of the people fight on foot, 
on account of the nature of the soil, * 
which is marshy, and not level enough 
for regular battle. The horsemen, as 
their situation or occasion requires, act 
readily as infantry, in attacking or retreat- 
ing ; and they either walk barefooted, or 
make use of high shoes, roughly construct- 
ed with untanned leather. In time of 
peace, the young men, by penetrating the 
deep recesses of the woods, and climbing 
the tops of the mountains, learn, by 
nightly practice, to endure the fatigue by 
day ; and, as they meditate on war during 
peace, they acquire the art of fighting by 
accustoming themselves to the use of the 
lance, and by inuring themselves to hard 
exercise. 

Not addicted to gluttony or drunken- 
ness, this people are wholly employed in 
the care of their horses and furniture. Ac- 
customed to fast from morning till even- 
ing, and trusting to the care of Providence, 



* The translation here, and in a few words more, differs 
somewhat from that of Sir R. H. Ed. 



182 POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 

they dedicate the whole day to business, 
and, in the evening, partake of a moderate 
meal ; and even if they have none, or only 
a very scanty one, they patiently wait till 
the next evening ; and, neither deterred by 
cold nor hunger, they employ the dark 
and stormy nights, in watching the hostile 
motions of their enemies. 

No one of this nation ever begs : so 
much does hospitality here rejoice in com- 
munication, that it is neither offered to, 
nor requested by, travellers, who, on enter- 
ing any house, only deliver up their arms ; 
when water is offered to them. If they 
suffer their feet to be washed, they are 
considered as guests for the night. But, 
if they refuse it, they only wish for morn- 
ing refreshment, and not lodging. Those 
who arrive in the morning are entertained 
till evening by the conversation of young 
women, and the music of the harp ; for 
each house has its young women, and 
harps allotted to this purpose. In the 
evening, when no more guests are ex- 
pected, the meal is prepared according to 
the number and dignity of the persons 



POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 183 

present, and according to the wealth of the 
family who entertains. The kitchen does 
not furnish many dishes, nor high incite- 
ments to eating ; for which reason they 
place all the dishes together, * the guests 
being arranged, not by twos, as in other 
places, but by threes, on rushes and clean 
hay. They also make use of a thin and 
broad cake of bread, baked every day 5 
which, in the -f Old Testament is called 
Lagana, as a trencher for their meat. 
Though the rest of the family take every 
care of the guests, the host and hostess 
continue standing, and paying unremitted 
attention to every thing, and take no food 
till all the company is satisfied, that in 
case of any deficiency it may fall upon 
themselves. A bed made of rushes, and 
covered with a coarse kind of cloth, ma- 
nufactured in. the country (called Bry- 
chan), is then placed along the side of 

* This curious circumstance, was probably a relic ,of the 
like custom of the Romans. The passage in the original is 
very obscure, but the above sense appears to be the one 
intended. Ep, 

t That is in the Vulgate translation. For supponunt, as 
the original now has it, the context requires, superpomint 
Ep. 



184 POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 

the room, and they all in the same man- 
ner lie down to sleep. Nor is their 
dress at night different from that by day ; 
for at all seasons they defend themselves 
from the cold only by a cloak and an 
under garment. The men and women cut 
their hair close round to the ears and e} r es. 
The women, after the manner of the Par- 
thians cover their heads with a large white 
veil folded like a turban. 

Both sexes exceed any other nation in 
attention to their teeth, which they render 
like ivory, by constantly rubbing them 
with green hazle and a woollen cloth, and 
for their better preservation, they absain 
from hot meats. The men shave all the 
beard except the whiskers. 

They make use of three musical instru- 
ments ; the harp, the pipe, and the crwth 
or crowd. 

In their musical concerts, they do not 
sing in unison like the inhabitants of other 
countries, but in many different parts ; so 
that in a company of singers, which one 



_ 



POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 185 

very frequently meets with in Wales, you 
will hear as many different parts and 
voices as there are performers, who at 
length all close the vocal in unison with 
the instrumental note in the key of B 
molle. 

They who are the principal persons in a 
public meeting, or a family, make use of 
great facetiousness, in order both to en- 
tertain their hearers and acquire credit 
themselves ; sometimes by sallies of wit 
and humour, and sometimes by the se- 
verest irony. The people of this nation, 
from the highest to the lowest, have been 
endowed by nature with a boldness and 
frank, open manner of addressing or an- 
swering, even in the presence of prince or 
chieftain, on every occasion ; such as we 
see in the Romans (Italians) and Franks, 
but not in the English, Saxons, or Ger- 
mans. 

There are certain persons in Wales 
called * Awenyddion, or people inspired ; 

* Though Giraldus treats this subject very seriously, 
and with his usual propensity to wondering : and making 






! 



186 POPULAR ANTIQUITIES, 

when consulted upon any doubtful event, 
they roar out violently, and become as if 
possessed of an evil spirit. They deliver 
the answer in sentences that are trifling, 
and have little meaning, but elegantly 
expressed. In the mean time, he who 
watches what is said, unriddles the an^ 
swer from some turn of a word. They are 
then roused from their ecstacy as from a 
deep sleep, and, by violent shaking, com- 
pelled to return to their senses, when they 
lose all recollection of the replies they have 
given. 

The Welsh esteem noble birth and ge» 
nerous descent above all things ; and are, 
therefore, more desirous of marrying into 
good, than rich families. Even the com- 
mon people * retain their genealogy, and 

a real miracle out of every imposture, it is evident, that 
this kind of pretence to inspiration, was a mere trick played 
on ignorance and superstition. But it was, probably, one 
derived from the Druids, like many more ; and, as it was 
of the same kind, so it was just as worthy of credit as the 
Oracle of Delphos. Ed. 

* During the last century, this custom has been very un- 
wisely and injuriously neglected, as property is often lost, 
because of the inability to prove relationship, where it 
otherwise would be indubitable. Ed. 



POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 187 

can not only readily recount the names 
of their fathers and grandfathers, but even 
refer back to the sixth or seventh genera- 
tion beyond them. They neither inhabit 
towns, villages, nor castles ; but lead, as 
it were, a solitary life, in the woods, on the 
borders of which their custom is to build 
houses of wattle, which require no ex- 
pense, and last sufficiently for a year. They 
have neither orchards nor gardens, though 
fond of the fruit of either when offered. 
The greater part of their land is laid down 
for pasture, little being cultivated ; a small 
quantity is ornamented with flowers, and 
less planted. They plough sometimes, 
though but seldom, with two oxen ; in ge- 
neral they do it with four ; and the driver 
walking backward before them, is some* 
times exposed to danger from refractory 
oxen. Instead of using reaping hooks, 
they do more work, and more expediti- 
ously, by an * iron blade of a moderate 



* See the Engraving, which was taken from the under 
part of the seat in Malvern Church, and seems to represent 
this instrument. Ed. 



\ 



188 POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 

size, to either end of which a handle is 
fixed by a link so as to play freely. 

The boats which they employ in fishing, 
or in crossing rivers, are made of basket- 
work, not oblong or pointed, but almost 
round ; or rather triangular, covered both 
within and without with raw hides, which 
the fishermen in going to or from the 
rivers carry on their shoulders. 






POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 189 



* SUPERSTITIONS OF THE WELSH. 

Extracted from the Itinerary of Giraldus Cambrensis. 

In the province of Gwarthrenion, and 
in the church of St. Germanus, there is the 
staff of St. Curig, covered all over with 



* It is due to the memory of Giraldus to quote the 
observation of Sir R. Hoare, ( That his own words prove 
* Giraldus did not give implicit credit to all the miracles 
' which he inserted in his works ; for he says,' " I know, 
** and am well assured, that I have committed to writing 
" some things which will appear ridiculous, and even im- 
«* possible, to the reader ; nor do I wish, that hasty credit 
" should be given to every thing I have asserted, for I do 
" not believe them myself." Hence it is evident, that 
Giraldus gave the accounts of miracles, and other strange 
things, as he received them, without vouching for their 
truth ; and so, without danger to the reader, in times so ad- 
dicted to superstition, he gave all the information, pro- 
bably, that he could collect. 

The miracles, as they are called, were, in some cases, 
performed, no doubt, by confederacy ; and, in others, by 
artifices of no common ingenuity, or a superior skill in 
medicine. The effect of St. Curig's staff, seems to have 
been such as that of the tractors of later date, produced by 



190 POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 

gold and silver, and the head of which ex- 
tends on either side like a cross. Its vir- 
tues, though great in all cases, are espe- 
cially so for the removal of glandular swell- 
ings ; insomuch, that all persons afflicted 
with these complaints, on a devout appli- 
cation to the staff, with the oblation of 
one penny, are restored to health. 

At Elevein, in the church of Glascum, 
is a portable bell, endowed with great vir- 
tues, called Bangu, and said to have be- 
longed to St. David. " This bell, the au- 



drawing a metal frequently over the part affected ; and 
though, in the latter case, the influence of imagination has 
been proved to be strangely powerful in producing mus- 
cular action, and one philosophical fact has been thus ascer- 
tained; yet it may still be questioned whether, if the 
proper means had been pursued, another might not have 
been discovered ; viz., that there may be particular cases, 
and particular habits, on which such an application may 
have permanent eifects, by a medium, perhaps, a fluid yet 
unknown ; and, possibly, that by which the sensation of 
tickling is produced, and which can only be so on any one 
by the touch of another* By the indiscriminate applica- 
tion of new remedies, their proper use has frequently been 
lost, or not discovered ; and it is a problem which yet re- 
mains to be solved, — in what cases, and in what degree, 
the imagination has effect on disease ? 



I'OfULAR ANTIQUITIES. 191 

" thor of the life of St. Teilo says, was 
" greater in fame than in size, and in 
" value than in beauty. It convicts the 
" perjured, and cures the infirm • and what 
" seems still more wonderful is, that it did 
" sound every hour without being touched, 
" until it was prevented by the sin of men, 
" who rashly handled it with polluted hands* 
" and it ceased from so delightful an of- 
" fice." Collectanea Cambrica, Vol. I. 
p. 308. The bell at Bangu seems, then, 
to have been the only remains of the clock 
of St. David, in the time of Giraldus. 

It happened, that the hand of a boy 
who was endeavouring to take some young 
pigeons from a nest in the church of 
St. David's of Llanvaes, adhered to the 
stone on which he leaned ; and, when the 
boy, attended by his friends and parents, 
had, for three successive days and nights, 
offered up his prayers and supplications 
before the holy altar of his church, his 
hand was on the third day liberated. The 
stone is preserved in the church to this 
day among the relics, and the marks of 
the five fingers appear impressed on the 



192 POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 

flint. A similar miracle happened at 
St. Edmundsbury to a poor woman, who 
often visited the shrine with the design of 
taking some of the offerings away, which 
she licked up by kissing. But, in one of 
these attempts, her tongue and lips * ad- 
hered to the altar. 



OF FAIRIES. 



A short time before our days, a circum- 
stance worthy of note occurred in those 
parts (near Neath), which Elidurus, a 
priest, most strenuously affirmed had be- 
fallen himself. When a youth of twelve 
years, in order to avoid the severity of his 
preceptor, he ran away, and concealed 
himself under the hollow bank of a river ; 
and, after fasting in that situation for two 
days, two little men of pigmy stature ap- 



* These miracles seem to have been performed by means 
of a strong transparent gum, or cement, which the monks 
could dissolve when they thought proper to release their 
prisoner. 



POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 193 

peared to him and said, " If you will go 
" with us, we will lead you into a country 
" full of delights and sports." Assenting 
and rising up, he followed his guides 
through a path at first subterraneous and 
dark, into a most beautiful country, but 
obscure and not illuminated with the full 
light of the sun, All the days were cloudy, 
and the nights extremely dark. The boy 
was brought before the king, and intro- 
duced to him in the presence of his court, 
when, having examined him for a long 
time, he delivered him to his son, who was 
then a boy. These men were of the 
smallest stature, but very well propor- 
tioned, fair complexioned, and wore long 
hair. They had horses and greyhounds 
adapted to their size. They neither ate 
flesh nor fish, but lived on milk-diet, made 
up into messes with saffron. As often as 
they returned from our hemisphere, they 
reprobated our ambition, infidelities, and 
inconstancies ; and though they had no 
form of public worship, were, it seems, 
strict lovers and reverers of truth. 

The boy frequently returned to our he- 



194 POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 



■ ■ . ■ ' 



misphere, sometimes by the way he had 
gone, sometimes by others ; at n>st in 
company, and afterwards alone ; and ma«de 
himself known only to his mother, to whom? 
he described what he had seen. Beii&g' 
desired by her to bring her a present of 
gold, with which that country abounded, 
he stole, whilst at play with the king's son, 
a golden ball, with which he used to divert 
himself, and brought it in haste to his mo- 
ther, but not unpursued ; for, as he en- 
tered the house of his father, he stumbled 
at the threshold, he let the ball fall, and; 
two pigmies seizing it departed, shewing 
the boy every mark of contempt and de- 
rision. Notwithstanding every attempt 
for the space of a year, he never again 
could find the track to the subterraneous 
passage. He had made himself acquaints 
ed with their language, which was very 
conformable to the Greek idiom. When 
they asked for water, they said, Udor 
udorum ; when they want salt, they say, 
Halgein udorum. 



POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 195 



mm 



OBSERVATIONS ON THE PRECEDING 
CURIOUS ACCOUNT. 



Strange, or uncouth appearances, veiled 
in mystery, are so generally resolved into 
the effects of supernatural powers by the 
ignorant, and into effects of weak or fan- 
ciful imaginations by others, that the for- 
mer fear, and the latter, will not, in ge- 
neral, take any trouble to investigate the 
real causes. There is scarcely any super- 
stition more ancient, or which has been 
more general, than that which respects 
fairies, or any of which so little that is 
satisfactory has been written ; and yet the 
above account of them, which is perfectly 
conformable to the general traditions, 
leads to interesting historical information. 
What led me to this idea of it originally, 
was the specimen of the language of the 
fairies, as given by Giraldus, which, if not 
pure Irish, is at least a mixture of Irish 
and Welsh. The letter C7, with which 
each of the words begins, is, probably, 

o 2 



196 POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 

no more than the representative of an in- 
distinct sound like the e mute of the 
French, and which those, whose language 
and manners are vulgar, often prefix to 
words indifferently. If, then, they be read 
Dor dorum, and Halgein dorum; Dor 
and Halgein are nearly Dwr, or, as it is 
pronounced, Door and Halen, the Welsh 
words for water and salt respectively. 
Dorum, therefore, signifies the desire of 
having either; that is, it is equivalent to 
Give me, and the Irish expression for Give 
me, is Thorum ; the Welsh, Dyro imi. 
There can then be no doubt, but that, 
as far as this specimen goes, the language 
of these fairies was either Irish or Welsh. 
The order of the words, however, is re- 
versed. The order should be Thorum Dor, 
and Thorum halen in Irish, and in Welsh 
Dyro imi dwr, and Dyro imi halen, but was, 
perhaps, reversed intentionally by the 
narrator, to make his tale the more mar- 
vellous. Hence it occurred, that, as the 
Irish had frequently landed hostilely in 
Wales, it was very possible, that some 
small bodies of that nation left behind, or 
ynable to return, and, fearing discovery, 



POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 197 

had hid themselves in * caverns during 
the day, and sent their children out at 
night fantastically dressed, for food and 
exercise, and thus secured themselves. 
But, upon further consideration, the fairy 
customs appeared evidently too systematic, 
and too general, to be those of an acci- 
dental party reduced to distress. They 
are those of a consistent and regular po- 
licy instituted to prevent discovery, and 
to inspire fear of their power, and an 
high opinion of their beneficence. Accord- 
ingly tradition notes, that to attempt to 
discover them, was to incur certain de- 
struction. " They are fairies/' says Fal- 
staff : " he that looks on them shall die." 
They were not to be impeded in ingress or 
egress ; a bowl of milk was to be left for 
them at night on the hearth ; and, in return, 
they left a small present in money when 
they departed, if the house was kept 
clean ; if not, they inflicted some punish- 
ment on the negligent, which, as it was 
death to look on them, they were obliged 

* Certum est reperiri Pygmaeos in metallicis caver nis. 

Caecilius apud Sheringham, p. 293. 



198 POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 

to suffer, and no doubt, but many un- 
lucky tricks were played on such occasions. 
Their general dress was green, that they 
might be the better concealed ; and, as 
their children might have betrayed their 
haunts, they seem to have been suffered 
to go out only in the night time, and to 
have been entertained by dances on moon- 
light nights. These dances, like those 
round the maypole, have been said to be 
performed round a tree ; and on an ele- 
vated spot, mostly a tumulus, beneath 
which was probably their habitation, or 
its entrance. The older persons, pro- 
bably, mixed as much as they dared with 
the world ; and, if they happened to be at 
any time recognised, the certainty of their 
vengeance was their safety. If by any 
chance their society was thinned, they ap- 
pear to have stolen children, and changed 
feeble for stronger infants. The stolen 
children, if beyond infancy, being brought 
into their subterraneous dwellings, seem 
to have had a soporific given them, and 
to have been carried to a distant part of 
the country ; and, being there allowed to 
go out merely by night, mistook the night 



POPU LAR ANTIQUITIES. 199 

for the day, and probably were not un- 
deceived until it could be done securely. 
The regularity and generality of this system 
shews, that there was a body of people 
existing in the kingdom distinct from its 
known inhabitants, and eitherconfederated, 
or obliged to live or meet mysteriously ; 
and their rites, particularly that of dan- 
cing round a tree, probably an oak, as 
Heme's, &c, as well as their character for 
truth and probity, refer them to aDruidic 
origin. If this was the case, it is easy to 
conceive, as indeed history shews, that as 
the Druids were persecuted by the Ro- 
mans and Christians, they used these means 
to preserve themselves and their families, 
and whilst the country was thinly peopled, 
and thickly wooded, did so successfully ; 
and, perhaps, to a much later period than 
is imagined : till the increase of popula- 
tion made it impossible. As the Druidical 
was one of the most ancient religions, So 
it must have been one of the first perse- 
cuted, and forced to form a regular plan 
of security, which their dwelling in caves 
may have suggested, and necessity im- 
proved; and hence it may be, that similar 



200 POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 

traditions are found in Asia and in Europe, 
and perhaps, it may not be going too far 
to suppose, that Christians of the ancient 
British church, when persecuted, followed 
the example. To this class of benevolent 
recluses, the Scotch Browny seems to be- 
long, who was, probably, no more than a 
solitary individual, and who might, like 
the Caledonian Merlin, have been insane, 
but incapable of injury. It is a very re- 
markable fact, that the tradition of a fairy 
putting out the eyes of a man who recog- 
nised him, which is in a note to the Lady 
of the Lake, told as a Scottish tradition, 
is told in Wales with no other difference, 
than that of the place. Forty years ago, 
the writer of this was told the tale, and 
that the scene of the transaction was Wrex- 
ham. The probability is, that the tale 
came into Wales with the Strathclwyd 
Britons, and that the narrator, as Corporal 
Trim took the year, took the place near- 
est in his recollection. 

The same idea of the fairies will also 
explain the account given of * Melerius 

* Chap. XII. 



POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 201 

by Giraldus ; the substance of which is, 
that Melerius was conversant with demons, 
and could foretel, with tolerable accuracy, 
what would happen within the year. This, 
by a connexion with a secret society, was 
very possible, as he might so be acquainted 
with the plan of their operations for the 
year, and the semblance of insanity, which 
he declared he had been subject to, pre- 
cluded suspicion. What Giraldus also re- 
lates of one * Simon, who pretended to be 
of demoniac origin, is of the same kind, 
and from Chap. XII. it appears, that 
some of this character were ventriloquists, 
and more than a match for the popish 
exorcists. 

* Chap. V. 



202 POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 

- ILL. II IIW— — II.MIT 

CAN Y TYLWYTH TEG ; 

OR, 

THE FAIRY SONG. 



Tune— Torriad y Dydd, or the Dawn. 



WRITTEN BY RICHARD LLWYD OF BEAUMARES, 

For the Collection of British Music lately published by Mr. THOMPSON, 
with Symphonies, by the immortal Haydn. 



I. 

From grassy blades and ferny shades 

My happy comrades hie, 
Now day declines — bright Hesper shines, 

And night invades the sky. 
From noon- day pranks and thy my banks 

To Dolydd's dome repair ; 
For our's the joy that cannot cloy, 

And mortals cannot share. 

II. 

The light-latched door, the well-swept floor, 

The hearth * so trim and neat, 
The blaze so clear, the water near 

The pleasant circling seat. 

* In Wales, as in other pastoral districts, the Fairy Tales 
are not erased from the traditional tablet ; and age seldom 
neglects to inform youth, that if, on retiring to rest, the 



POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 203 

With proper care your reeds prepare, 

Your tuneful labours bring, 
And day shall haste to tinge the east 

Ere we shall cease to sing. 

III. 

But first I'll creep where mortals sleep, 

And from the blissful dream : 
I'll hover near the maiden dear 

That keeps this hearth so clean : 
I'll shew her when that best of men, 

So rich in manly charms, 
Her Einion true, in vest of blue, 

Shall bless her longing arms. 

IV. 

Your little sheaves on primrose leaves, 

Your acorns, berries spread; 
Let kernels sweet increase the treat, 

And flow'rs their fragrance shed ; 
And when 'tis o'er we'll crowd the floor, 

In jocund pairs advance, 
No voice be mute, and each shrill flute 

Shall cheer the mazy dance. 

hearth is made clean, the floor swept, and the pails left full 
of water, the fairies will come at midnight, continue their 
revels till daybreak, sing the well-known strain of Torriad 
y Dydd, or the Dawn, leave a piece of money upon the 
hob, and disappear ! The suggestions of intellect, and 
the precautions of prudence, are easily discernible under 
this fiction : a safety from fire, in the neatness of the hearth; 
a provision for its extinction, in replenished pails, and a 
motive to perseverance, in the promised boon. 



204 POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 

V. 

When morning breaks, and man awakes 

From sleep's restoring hours, 
The flock, the field, his Home we yield 

To his more active powers. 
While clad in green, unheard, unseen, 

On sunny banks we'll play, 
And give to man his little span — 

His empire of the day. 



POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 205 



SUPERSTITIOUS DANCE AT ST. ALMEDHA'S 
CHURCH, NEAR BRECKNOCK. 

From Gi a Aldus. 

" A solemn festival is annually held 

" here, in honour of this saint, in the be- 

" ginning of August. At this festival, you 

" may see men or girls now in the church- 

" yard, now in the dance, which is led 

" round the churchyard with a song, on a 

" sudden falling to the ground as in a 

** trance, then jumping up as in a frenzy, 

" and representing with their hands and 

" feet, before the people, whatever work 

" they have unlawfully done on feast 

" days. You may see one man put 

" his hands, as it were, to the plough ; 

" and another goad the oxen, relieving 

" their toil by a rude song : others, imi- 

" tating the work of the shoemaker, or 

" tanner; of spinning, or weaving; and, 

" being brought into the church, and up 

" to the altar, they all come to them- 

" selves." 









206 POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 

This description is evidently from re- 
port. The custom seems to have been, in 
reality, a festival of the different laborious 
professions, which, according to the Brut, 
must have been a Druidical custom, as 
old as the time of King Lear. What is 
said of the recovery at the altar, is pro- 
bably a popish invention. 

It appears from Chap. XL, that the 
divination by the blade-bone of mutton, 
was not a Welsh, but Flemish custom ori- 
ginally, and that it w r as to be taken from 
the right shoulder of a ram ; which was 
boiled, and not roasted. * The Scythians 
practised divination of a somewhat similar 
kind. In their human sacrifices, the}^ cut 
off the shoulder and arm of the victim, 
which they tossed into the air, and drew 
omens and presages from their manner of 
falling on the pile. 



* Gibbon, Vol. VI. p. 4. Ed. 8vo. 



POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 207 



Giraldus, Book II. Chap. I. 



The river Alyn, bounding the church- 
yard of St. David's, flows under a stone 
called Llechlafar, which serves as a bridge 
over the river. It is a beautiful piece of 
marble, polished by the feet of passengers, 
ten feet in length, six in breadth, and one 
in thickness. Llechlafar, signifies, in the 
British language, a talking stone. There 
was an ancient tradition respecting this 
stone, that at a time when a corpse was 
carried over it for interment, it broke forth 
into speech, and, by the effort, cracked in 
the middle, which fissure is still visible ; 
and, on account of this barbarous and an- 
cient superstition, the corpses are no longer 
brought over it. When Henry II. , on his 
return from Ireland, landed in the port of 
St. David's, and was going in procession 
to the shrine of St. David's, a Welsh- 
woman threw herself at his feet, and made 
a complaint against the Bishop of St. Da- 
vid's, and it not being attended to, she, 
with violent gestulations, exclaimed re- 



208 POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 

mil mil a i i mth —■ — — ^ 

peatedly, " Avenge us this day, Llech- 
" lafar; avenge us and the nation in this 
" man ;' alluding to an idle prophecy, 
commonly attributed to Merlin, " That 
" a king of England, and conqueror of 
" Ireland, should be wounded by a man 
" with a red hand, and die upon Llech- 
" lafar, on his return through St. David's. 



MAEN MORDDWYD, (THE THIGH-STONEJ, 
AT LLANIDAN IN ANGLESEA. 



Giraldus, Book II. Chap. VII. 

" There is a stone here resembling a 
" human thigh, which possesses this in- 
" nate virtue, that to whatever distance it 
" be carried, it returns of its own accord, 
" the following night, as has often been 
" experienced by the inhabitants/' 

In a note from a MS. of Mr. Rowlands, 
the author of Mona Antiqua, this stone is 
said, having long lost its virtue, to have 



POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 209 

been stolen within his memory. There was 
once a tradition also concerningit, that when 
a wish was made before it, if the wish was 
to come to pass, the person who expressed 
the wish could lift it up with ease ; but, 
if not, then it became so heavy, that his 
utmost strength could not raise it. In the 
latter case, it required but little art to 
produce the effect unknown to the simple 
inquirer. 



SNOWDON MOUNTAINS. 

Giralpus, Chap. IX. 

" According to vulgar tradition, these 
" mountains are frequented by an eagle, 
" who, perching on a fatal stone every 
" Thursday, and hoping to satiate her 
" hunger with the carcasses of the slain, is 
11 said to expect war on that same day, 

and to have almost perforated the stone, 
" by cleaning and sharpening her beak/' 

It should seem from this passage, that 
p 



a 



210 POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 

Thursday was the sacred day of the Druids. 
In the Gododin, the transactions of a fes- 
tival week are given ; and of Thursday it 
is only said, The due rites were performed. 
In another poem, The Praise of Lludd the 
Great, another account of them is given, 
in which it is said, On Thursday they were 
delivered from the detested usurpers : by 
which, as the poem relates to the deluge, 
I suppose, the waters are intended ; and 
that, in consequence of their having some 
tradition as to this day, it was held sa- 
cred ; though I can only suppose it. 



POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 211 



CUSTOMS 
MENTIONED BY MR. LEWIS MORRIS 



It was the custom among all warlike 
nations, to give names to their swords ; 
but the ancient Britons took a particular 
pride in adorning their swords, and making 
them polished handles of the teeth of sea 
animals, &c. ; and their warlike disposi- 
tion, and love of the sword, was such, that 
it was the custom for the mother of every 
male child, to put the first victuals into 
the child's mouth on the point of his fa- 
ther's sword ; and, with the food, to give 
her first blessing or wish to him, that he 
might die no other death than that of the 
sword. Nay, this nation, by long strug- 
gling in defence of their country, had got 
to such an enthusiastic pitch of warlike 
madness, that 1 have read in an ancient 
British MS. then at Hengwrt, that it was* 
customary when a man grew very old and 
infirm among them — to desire his chil- 
dren, or next relatives, to pull him out of 

p 2 



212 POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 

bed and kill him, lest the enemy might 
have the pleasure of that office, or that he 
should die cowardly and sordidly, and not 
by the sword. 



CITY OF TROY. 

See the Drawing. 

This is the name given to a delineation of 
the plan of a labyrinth, which is sometimes 
cut out in the turf by shepherd boys, whilst 
they are tending their flocks on the moun- 
tains of Walts ; and sometimes drawn, and 
presented as a puzzle by school-boys, to 
exercise the ingenuity of their school-fel- 
lows, either in finding the way to the 
citadel A, or in drawing the plan. The 
tradition which accompanies the plan is, 
that the city of Troy was defended by 
seven walls represented by the seven ex- 
terior lines, and the entrance from Bmade 
so intricate for its greater security, as the 
enemy is supposed to have been under the 
necessity of going through all the winding 
interval of the walls before he could arrive 



?! 



POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 213 

at the citadel. In Welsh, the name given 
to this plan is Caer Droea, or The City 
of Troy; and the name is a sufficient evi- 
dence, that a tradition respecting Troy 
must have been very popular in Wales, 
though I suspect, that Caer Drota is a 
corruption of Caer Droeau, the city of 
turnings, that is, of the Labyrinth; and 
even so the evidence of the popular tra- 
dition, as to Troy, is not lessened, but ra- 
ther the reverse, because, that in the cor- 
ruption of words, those which are most 
familiar are always the substitutes of words 
whose significations are less so. 

In the plan itself, there is considerable 
ingenuity. As usually drawn, the points 
«, b, and e, /, are usually connected by a 
line, as in the scheme. This line, how- 
ever, should be omitted, and the lines c 
and g, being extended to d and //, it would 
be properly a labyrinth, which, at present, 
it is not, as there are no means of losing the 
way into the citadel ; the supposed way 
continuing regulaily through ail its wind- 
ings unbroken, which could scarcely have 
been the design of the inventor. 



214 POPULAR ANTIQUITIES, 



OF CRUG MAWR. 



Crug Mawr 9 or Pen tychryd Mawr, is 
a mountain, or lofty hill, in Cardigan- 
shire, situated in the vale of Ayeron, 
mentioned in Giraldus, where, he says, 
" there is an open grave, which fits the 
" length of any man lying in it, short 
" or long." Hence arose the ancient tra- 
dition, that a powerful caxvr, or giant, 
kept his post on this hili, who was endowed 
with the genius of the Ayeron vale. He 
had a lofty palace erected on the hill, and 
used occasionally to invite the neighbouring 
giants to a trial of strength on the top of it; 
at one of these meetings coits were proposed 
and introduced, and, after great efforts, 
the inhabitant of the spot won the day, 
by throwing his coit clear into the Irish 
shore, which ever after gave him the su- 
periority over all other giants in Caredig 
land. 

What this tale calls the Irish shore, was 



POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 215 

probably only the green sward at the base 
of the rock, as the word Iwerddon signi- 
fies a green place. The grave was, ] pre- 
sume, a probationary or penitentiary cell 
of the Druids, formed in the interior as a 
square tube; at the upper end whereof 
was a stone fitted to the dimensions of the 
tube and movable in it by a concealed 
simple machinery, so that when the aspi- 
rant or penitent crept into the cell, its 
depth was adjusted to his size, rather than 
his size adjusted to it, by the inconvenient 
method of Procrustes, though both me- 
thods may have belonged to the same su- 
perstition ; and, in flagrant cases, a re- 
fusal of the tampion to act have been the 
signal for the severer process ; such re- 
fusal being considered as an intimation of 
the divine displeasure. 



216 POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 



WELSH MAEN. 



This custom in the barbarous sport of 
cock-fighting has been fully described by 
the author of Popular Antiquities, but not 
traced to its origin ; though this is indi- 
cated by the very name, which should be 
written as above. Maen, and not Main, as 
it is commonly written, signifies a large 
stone, such as the cromlech ; and hence it 
ma}' be inferred, that this singular kind of 
battle was originally a Druidical ceremony 
connected with the cromlech, or in imita- 
tion of such a ceremony. But as the 
Druids are known to have sacrificed cap- 
tives taken in war, the most probable in- 
ference is, that the captives were obliged 
to fight in the same manner, that is, being 
first divided into two bands of equal num- 
bers, they were to fight till one half of 
the whole number was killed ; the survi- 
ving half then being formed into two 
bands, were compelled to fight till one 
half of this whole number survived, and so 



POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 217 

on till one only remained, whose life per- 
haps was spared. 

This conjecture is founded not only on 
the derivation of the name, but on the ge- 
neral barbarous practice common to many 
nations of destroying the prisoners taken 
in war, and which, until they were able 
to keep them safely, and provide for their 
support, by employing them in agriculture 
or other labour, necessity seems to have 
introduced. In the Roman state it pre- 
vailed as long as it was pagan, and to a 
much greater degree than it is generally 
supposed, and it is to Christianity that 
the world owed the abolition of those Gla- 
diatorial shows, the real political purpose 
of which was to destroy captives taken in 
war. 

It may, however, have been the fact, 
that the Welsh Maen was a sacred insti- 
tution, and that the cock was a sacred 
bird, as Caesar says this species of fowl 
was not eaten by the Britons. 



218 POPULAR ANTIQUITIES, 



i ■ 



POPULAR TRADITIONS. 



Not far from Dolgelleu upon the road 
to Machynlleth are three large stones 
called the three pebbles. The tradition 
concerning these is, that the giant Idris, 
whose residence was on Cad air Idris, 
finding them troublesome in his shoe as 
he was walking, threw them down there. 
In Mr. Theophilus Jones's entertaining and 
useful History of Brecknockshire, there 
is this account of a similar circumstance, 
" Under the corrupted name of Moll Wal- 
" bee, we have her castles on every emi- 
** nence, and her feats are traditionally 
" narrated in every parish. She built, 
" (say the gossips) the castle of Hay in 
" one night; the stones for which she car- 
" ried in her apron. While she was thus 
" employed, a small pebble, of about nine 
" feet long, and one thick, dropped into 
" her shoe : this she did not at first re- 
gard ; but, in a short time, finding it 



a 



POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 21{) 



" troublesome, threw it over the Wye into 

" Llowes churchyard, in Radnorshire 

" (about three miles off), where it remains 

" to this day, precisely in the position it 

" fell ; a stubborn memorial of the histori- 

" cal fact, to the utter confusion of all 

" sceptics and unbelievers/' 

This Moll Walbee is, by the gossips of 
Brecknockshire, supposed to have been 
the same as Maud of St. Waverley, or 
Maud de Haia, who built Hay-castle, and, 
as Maud was detested by the Welsh, they 
may have given her the title of a fury ; but 
the part of the tradition relative to the 
pebble, and building castles, must be of 
much higher antiquity, as in many places 
of North Wales, where there are heaps of 
rude stones, a witch is said to have carried 
them thither in her apron ; and, as these 
stones generally have formed parts of en- 
closures, the original name was, perhaps, 
Malaen y Walfa* or The Fury of the En- 
closure, as the ignorant frequently attribute 
structures, which have any thing formi- 
dable and astonishing in their appearance, 
to the work of evil spirits. 



220 POPULAR ANTIQUTIIES. 



ROLLDRITCH. 



The popular traditions as to monuments 
of very remote antiquity, are frequently 
amusing, and even the apparent absurdity 
becomes occasionally a key to the truth. 
As in the preceding instance, a fury, or 
witch, had the credit of displaj'ing her 
wonderful powers, so also, at Rolldritch, 
upon inquiry, I found the popular tradi- 
tion to be, that a witch, in revenge for 
some offence, had turned the offenders 
into the stones which form the circle there. 
Rhwyldrech would signify, the Circle of 
Superiority, or Victory, and hence, if cap- 
tives were sacrificed to Malaen, when they 
were brought into the circle, the stones 
might be considered as forming the fatal 
circle of her power ; and a.s they were the 
monuments of destruction, the idea of the 
transformation of the captives might arise 
from some ambiguous expression. 

Another tradition relative to the circle 



POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 221 

at Rolldritch is, that the number of stones 
in the circle cannot be reckoned truly, for 
that in reckoning them a second time, the 
number will be found different from that 
of the first ; a tradition which intimates, 
that the place was once used for rites of 
an awful superstition which confounded 
the senses. 



CADAIR IDRIS. 



Idris, or ]Edris, is recorded in the Triads, 
as one of the three great astronomers of 
antiquity, and, as of remote times, and 
conspicuous celebrity, is dignified by the 
name of Cawr, that is, the Hero, or, as 
applied to him, more properly the Re- 
twwned. Whether it were, that elevated 
mountains, as affording an extensive ho- 
rizon, and a station of apparent proximity 
to the heavens, induced the multitude to 
imagine they must be the best adapted 
to astronomical pursuits to transfer the 
names of celebrated astronomers to the 



222 POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 

mountains may be questionable. A more 
probable reason is, that, as in order to dis- 
cover the first appearance of the new moon, 
which was a point of great importance to 
the due celebration of festivals as well as 
to the formation of a calendar, that ap- 
pearance was looked for from the highest 
elevations, such were on these occasions 
^resorted to by the astronomers. And, for 
this purpose, Cadair Idris is most admi- 
rably appropriate. The commanding view, 
and magnificent extent of horizon, which 
the summit, easily attainable, affords, 
would be equally advantageous and inter- 
esting. On this summit a roundish enclo- 
sure of stone walling marks what is called, 
the Cadair, or Chair, to which tradition 
assigns a power of affecting the imagina- 
tion at night, far beyond what all the ro- 
mantic and sublime scenery which the day 
illumines, can aspire to. He who sleeps 
upon this summit for one night, will, it is 
said, be endowed with a poetic genius ; 
and the late Rev. Evan Evans, author of the 
Dissertatio de Bardis, did, as I have been 
assured by one who was well acquainted 
with him, once try the experiment. But 



POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 223 

poor Evans did not want genius. Could 
he have been endowed with a more patient 
sufferance and a calmer mind, the pit 
would have been ablessing. The experiment 
itself was one of those symptomatic whims, 
which like the flickering of an expiring 
flame, mark the morbid state, and some- 
times presage the total loss of the powers 
of the understanding. The latter he hap- 
pily escaped, but to the former, I believe, 
he was, in no small degree subject, for 
many of the last years of his life. His ge- 
nius soon gave him reputation, and, as it is 
but too common, his hopes were at first 
two much raised, and, not being aware, 
perhaps, that estimation, and the encou- 
ragement he looked to are seldom closely 
allied, though the latter may follow in time; 
his disappointment, which should have 
urged him to prudent industry, preyed upon 
his mind till lie fell into negligence of him- 
self; though his favourite pursuits of poetry 
and Welsh researches were continued till 
he died with an ardour deserving of a 
better fate. 

"When the astronomer Idris was cele- 



224 POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 

brated as an ancient cawr, the term in its 
popular signification being a giant, the 
tales of the neighbourhood did not fail 
to amplify his size to the proper imaginary 
dimensions, or to give an idea of it, not, 
indeed, as the Greeks, by an ex pede Her- 
culem, but by the three pebbles, which, being 
rather troublesome in his shoe as he was 
walking, he threw out of it nearly to the 
place where they now lie, on the road to 
Machynlleth. Very troublesome they are 
not to be supposed to have been to the 
giant, as they would only weigh a few 
tons. They are, however, large enough 
for a nursery computation of the giant's 
stature 



POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 225 



OF WEARING THE LEEK. 



Had the custom of wearing any thing 
taken from the vegetable kingdom as a 
mark of national distinction at a particular 
season been of any great antiquity in Bri- 
tain, it scarcely admits of a doubt, but that 
the missletoe would have been chosen for 
that purpose by the Britons, and that the 
day of wearing it would have been one of 
the Druid festivals, such as the first of 
May. Yet though the wearing of the leek 
is not to be referred to a Druidical origin, 
it is derived from an origin more honour- 
able than superstition could give it ; from 
one of those victories which have so often 
graced the arms of this country when at 
war with France. The engagement was 
one in which the Welsh bore a distin- 
guished part; and as Shakespeare has put 
the circumstances into the mouth of his 
admirably-drawn character of Fluellin in 
Henry V., they cannot be made more in- 

Q 



226 POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 

te resting than they will be in the spirited, 
and, at the same time, modest and divert- 
ing statement he has given of them. 

" Flu. Your grandfather of famous me- 
" mory, an't please your majesty, and 
" your great uncle, Edward the plack 
" Prince of Wales, as I have read in the 
" chronicles, fought a most prave pattle 
" here in France. 

" K. Henry. They did Fluellin. 

" Flu. Your majesty says very true. If 
" your majesty is remembered of it, the 
" Welshmen did goot service in a garden 
" where leeks did grow, wearing leeks in 
" their Monmouth caps, which, your raa- 
" jesty knows, to this hour is an honour- 
" able padge of the service ; and, I do be- 
" lieve, your majesty takes no scorn to 
" wear the leek upon St. Tavy's day. 

" K. Henry. I wear it for a memorable 
" honour. 

This must have been, I suppose, the 
glorious battle of Poictiers. John of Gaunt 
(then Earl of Richmond) was, at the time, 
about 17 years old ; and, as this is the only 



POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 227 

battle answering the- description at which 
both could have been present, I conclude, 
it is the one intended in the above quota- 
tion. The Welsh archers had also signa- 
lized themselves at the battle of Cressy, so 
that the leek may be deemed a memorial, 
and the only one still worn, of two of the 
most glorious victories that ever graced the 
British arms, as well as of the part which 
the Welsh had the honour of bearing in the 
success. 

I have been informed, that some years 
ago a song, commemorating the occasion 
of wearing the leek, was known and sung 
in South Wales. Of this song I was pro- 
mised a copy if my informant could, as he 
thought it was in his power, obtain it. 
Having heard no more of it, I can only 
add, that, according to his representation 
of it, the substance of the song was the 
same as that of the speech of Fluellin. 



Q 2 



228 POPULAR ANTIQUITIES, 



SORTES BIBLIC^, 



The mode of inquiring into futurity by 
opening a book, and taking the first sen- 
tence that meets the eye as the answer, 
is so well known as to require no particular 
explanation, and that the Bible should 
especially have been used for this purpose, 
was a ready consequence of prevailing 
superstition, and an application to be ex- 
pected from those who, not being able to 
abolish a pagan practice entirely, by a 
mistaken, though possibly well-meant, 
change of the mode, endeavoured to con- 
nect the practice with Christianity. 

There is little doubt but that the Druids 
madeuse of some kind of lots made of wood, 
for such inquiries, and particularly, of the 
branches of the missletoe, which, from 
their form, may easily be made to represent 
all the characters of the most ancient Welsh 
alphabet ; and the very name of this alpha- 



POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 229 

bet leads to this conclusion. It is called 
Coelbren y Beirdd, that is, The Wood of 
Credence of the Bards, and which, there- 
fore, marks it as that by which they pre- 
tended to give some information by di- 
vining ; since the word which I have tran- 
slated credence, properly signifies the kind 
of credit given to divination, omens, &c. 
The method in which the investigation was 
made cannot, perhaps, now be accurately 
determined, but if, as it seems probable, 
a similar method was made use of by the 
Christians in later times, the method seems 
to have been to assign a particular mean- 
ing to every letter, and having shaken all 
the characters together, and desired the 
inquirer to draw one as in a lottery, to 
predict according to the meaning assigned 
to the character drawn. Such nearly is 
that described in the following mode of 
Sortes Biblicae, which is taken from a Welsh 
manuscript of the 15th century, and which 
I have frequently referred to as the White 
Book of Hergest, in the Wynnstay Collec- 
tion. From the preparatory ceremonial it 
will appear, that the practice belonged to 
those who were of the church of Rome. 



230 POTULAR ANTIQUITIES. 

The purport of the passage referred to is 
as follows: — 

The inquirer shall say three Paters, three 
Aves, the first Psalm, and Gloria Patri ; 
then opening the Bible shall note the first 
letter of the page opened, which is to be 
interpreted by the following rule : — 

A signifies a good and happy life ; 
B, Peace of the nations ; C, Death of the 
Querist ; D, Great joy ; E, Revenge, &c. 

Thus much is sufficient to shew the me- 
thod, which is 1 all that is necessary. To 
give the whole might only serve to renew 
the superstition. I will only add, that 
dreams were interpreted by the same me- 
thod. 



POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 231 



CURIOUS NUMERATION, 



In the Book of Basingwerke, and at 
the end of the British Chronicle, on a 
spare part of the page, I found the follow- 
ing curious system of Numeration. Of its 
use I must confess I am ignorant, as I 
have not met with any instance of its ap- 
plication. The numbers do not form any 
regular series, neither does the system seem 
applicable to any purpose of calculation. 
The only probable conjecture I can form 
respecting it is, that it was a numerical 
cipher used for secret writing. The book 
from which it is taken, was written about 
the middle of the loth century, when the 
Arabic numerals were well known. To 
the supposition that the use was for cipher, 
the repetition of the same numbers may 
be objected, particularly that of 500 for 
A, D, and Q ; but as the true reference 
was easily to be determined b} r a point 
over either of the three characters, the ob- 



232 POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 

jection may not be material. The original 
passage seems to be an extract, or a note 
of the writers, and is the more remark- 
able, as the dates and other numbers 
given in the manuscript, are all given in 
the common Roman numerals. In the 
following arrangement, the first column 
follows the manuscript ; the second I have 
annexed to it, in order to shew what letters 
correspond to the numerals, as these suc- 
ceed each other in this strange kind of 
numeration, which, however, may be more 
explicable to others than it is to me. The 
writer briefly says, " Now we will shew 
" what is the numerical value of each 
" letter/' and proceeds to state it thus : — 



Viz. 



A is 500 


1 


.... I 


B .... 300 


5 


.... V 


C ..., 100 


9 


.... s 


D 500 


10 


. . . • A. 


E .... 250 


15 


.... o 


F .... 40 


40 


.... F 


G .... 400 


50 


.... L 


H .... 200 


80 


.... R 


I .... 1 


90 


.... N 


K .... 140 


100 


.... C 


L .... 50 


140 


• • • • K. 


M ....1000 


150 


.... Y 


N .... 90 


160 


• • . • A 



POPULAR ANTIQUltflES. 233 



O 15 


200 .... H 


P 300 


250 .... E 


Q .... 500 


300 B, P 


R 80 


400 G 


S 9 


500 .... A, D, Q 


T .... 160 


1000 .... M 


V .... 5 


2000 .... Z 


X .... io 




Y .... 150 




Z ....2000 





It may be necessary to observe that there 
is only one of these letters which is in Welsh 
the initial of the number to which it is an- 
nexed, that is the C, the initial of cant., or 
one hundred. 

It is also a curious peculiarity, that 
though the Welsh reckon regularly as far 
ten, they proceed by one and ten, two 
and ten, &c, to fifteen, and then go on 
by one and fifteen, two and fifteen, &c, 
to twenty, and reckon thus by twenties, 
and not by tens, till they come to a hun- 
dred. This mode is not, I believe, used 
by any other European nation, certainly 
not by any whose numeration I have been 
able to see, most of which I have ex- 
amined. 



234 POPULAR ANTIQUITIES 



HOLY WELLS. 



The superstitious ceremonies used at 
such wells, and the respect with which 
they are frequented, must be of very re- 
mote antiquity, since as early as the time 
of Joshua the name of En-shemesh, or the 
Fountain of the Sun, was given to a well 
which manifestly indicates that the well 
was dedicated to the sun, and the name of 
another En-rogel, or the Fountain of Se- 
cret Inquiry, or of Calumniation, as it 
may be translated, intimates, that it was 
used for some purpose of divination. To 
these may be added En-dor, or the Foun- 
tain of Circular Revolution ; and in these 
three names the three principal supersti- 
tions are discernible, which are denoted 
by practices not even at this time wholly 
fallen into disuse. Some doubts may per- 
haps be suggested as to the translation I 
have given of En-rogel, because the Jewish 
commentators have referred the word 



POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 235 

Rogel to some action of the feet in fulling 
of cloths, and supposed the well to have 
been appropriated to that use. This ex- 
position, however, is at best but conjec- 
tural. The radical word signifies, afoot, 
and hence the verb Ragal signifies to trace 
the footstep, and particularly that of an 
enemy, and, metaphorically, to mark the 
conduct of another invidiously, and with 
the intent of destroying him ; and hence 
it appears to me, the interpretation I b#ve 
given is justifiable, at least. But this well 
was situated also in the same district as 
En-shemesh, referred to before ; and as 
Debir, or The Oracle, was in that district 
(Joshua xv. ver. 7), and the stone of Zohe- 
leth, or the Stone of Crawling, is said to 
have been near En-rogel (1 Kings i. ver. 9)> 
literally close by it, all these circumstances 
shew, that the district w r as one of great 
superstition, and I therefore conceive, 
that the sense I have attributed to En- 
rogel is the true one. The origin of these 
superstitions must undoubtedly be looked 
for in a hot climate, where a well of pure 
water affords one of the greatest blessings 
of life ; and thus the Hebrew word for a 



236 POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 

tank, which is of less value than a well, 
with the slight variation of a vowel point, 
signifies a blessing ; and when the sun be- 
came an object of worship, the dedication 
of a well to it, as of the earthly to the 
heavenly source of comfort, was simple 
and natural. From this reference a 
higher estimation of a well opening and 
flowing eastward may have arisen, and, as 
I have heard, such wells were formerly 
thought in Wales to afford the purest 
water. The purifications necessary, first 
for health, and secondly preparative to 
religious ceremonies, were additional mo- 
tives for a regard to wells ; but above all, 
where the waters were found to possess 
medical virtues, those virtues were readily 
believed to be conferred by some benevo- 
lent and superintendent divinity. What- 
ever be the religious system, deprecation 
of the wrath of the Deity must form one 
part of it, and humiliation must precede 
an act of supposed purification. It is the 
course which nature and reason, even in 
its most feeble efforts, would dictate. Ac- 
cordingly it appears, that in Ireland the 
votaries of some holy wells crawl around 



POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 237 

them several times on their hands and 
knees, and such, I presume, was the cus- 
tom at En-dor in the time of Joshua. The 
expression of gratitude for benefits received 
was another natural sentiment of religion; 
and hence, probably, arose the custom of 
leaving some token of it, however small, 
such as the dropping of a pin into the 
well, or hanging up a rag on some bush 
near it. Brand says, " I have frequently 
" observed shreds, or bits of rags, upon 
" the bushes that overhang a well in the 
" road to Benton, a village in the neigh- 
" bourhood of Newcastle. It is called, 
" The Rag- well. The spring has been 
" visited for some disorder or other, and 
" these rag-offerings are relics of the then- 
prevailing superstition. Thus, Mr. Pen- 
nant tells us, they visit the well of Spey 
in. Scotland, for many distempers, and 
" the well of Drachaldy for as many more, 
" offering small bits of money, and bits of 
" rags/' 



In the third of the excellent letters of 
Columbanus, a very interesting account is 
given of the well-worship as practised in 



£38 POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 

Ireland, a worship justly censured by the 
worthy author. In this account he says, 
" When I pressed a very old man, Owen 
" Hester, to state what possible advantage 
" he expected to derive from the singular 
custom of frequenting in particular such 
wells as were contiguous to an old blasted 
oak, or an upright unhewn stone ; and 
what the meaning was of the yet more 
" singular custom of sticking rags on the 
" branches of such trees, and spitting on 
" them, his answer, and the answer of the 
" oldest men, was, that their ancestors al- 
" ways did it; that it was a preservative 
" against Geasa Draoidecht, i. e., the sor- 
" ceriesof the Druids ; — and so thoroughly 
" persuaded were they of the sanctity of 
" these pagan practices, that they would 
" travel bareheaded and barefooted from 10 
" to 20 miles, for the purpose of crawling on 
" their knees round these wells, and upright 
" stones, and oak trees, westward, as the 
" sun travels, some three times, some six, 
" some nine, and so on — until their volun- 
" tary penances were completely fulfilled. 
" A passage from Hanway leads directly 
" to the Oriental custom of these Druidical 



it 



<£ 



ii 



POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 239 

1 -" "in i i i m i 

superstitions. ' We arrived at a de- 
' solate caravanserai, where we found 

* nothing but water. I observed a tree 
6 with a number of rags to the branches. 

* These were so many charms, which 
6 passengers coming from Ghilaw, a 
' province remarkable for agues, had left 

" * there, in a fond expectation of leaving 

" ' their disease also in the same spot/ 

" From Chaldea and Persia well-worship 

" passed into Arabia, where the well of 

" Zimzim at Mecca was celebrated from 

" the remotest ages/' &c. 

In these passages there is such a con- 
formity with the stone of crawling, near 
En-rogel, as leaves no doubt on my mind, 
but that the superstitious practice in Ire- 
land is derived from that of the Canaanites. 
The name of Endor properly signifies, The 
Well of Revolution, and points to some kind 
of going round, as the ceremony used at 
that place, but whether this was going 
round the well, dancing in a circle, or turn- 
ing round in the same manner as the Turkish 
dervishes are still known to do as a reli- 
gious ceremony, is a question on which so 



240 POPULAR, ANTIQUITIES* 

much might be said, and so little deter- 
mined, that it may be most prudent not to 
enter upon it. That Endor was a place 
devoted to a pagan superstition, seems to 
have been the reason why the sorceress, or 
witch, consulted by Saul, should have 
made it that of her abode, and found her 
safety in it, being, as it was, in the hilly 
region of Mount Tabor. In such coun- 
tries, when communication with others is 
rare, and especially if it be by means of 
another language than the common one 
of the lower orders, a superstition which 
has once established itself, can scarcely be 
eradicated. Impressed on the minds of 
the young as the wisdom, the piety, or the 
apprehension of preceding generations, the 
sentiment 

" Grows with their growth and strengthens with their strength." 

The practices annexed to it proceed as 
of common observance amongst them- 
selves, and little noticed by strangers ; 
from whom they are generally concealed, 
and to whose reproof or ridicule, when 
they are not so, the answer, if any, might 
be such, as an indiscreet attack upon pre* 



POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 241 

judices generally receives, and perhaps 
deservedly. The very ancient wells which 
have been already mentioned, as denoted 
by their names to have been frequented for 
their supposed sanctity, mark, if not the 
precise places where the superstition first 
arose, places where it was adhered to, as 
far back as the days of Joshua, and it 
may be presumed, that in his time it was 
common to Cbaldea and Syria, and that, 
with the first colonies after the dispersion 
from Babel it was carried westward ; 
and though it is well known to have 
once prevailed widely in the intervening 
countries of Europe ; the only traces of 
it, I believe, remain now in Wales, Ire- 
land, and Scotland, the Western parts of 
Europe ; and however their existence, as 
inconsistent with pure religion, may be 
lamented, as evidence of the truth of the 
Mosaic history they are valuable, and not 
less so as evidences of the traditional refer- 
ence of these nations to their Oriental 
origin. I have enlarged somewhat on this 
subject, as no one else, that I know of, 
has considered these wells of Canaan in 

R 



242 POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 

the same light ; I now come to those of 
Wales of the same kind. 

There are in North Wales, several wells 
which have been celebrated for the super- 
stitious rites attached to them, and as af- 
fording remarkable instances of the effects 
of imagination on the physical state of the 
human frame ; St. Thecla's at Llandegla, 
St. iElian's at Llanelian, St. Dwynwen's in 
Anglesey, and St.Wenefrede's at Holywell 
in Flintshire. 

The well of St. Thecla must have once 
enjoyed a high degree of celebrity for cures 
of epilepsy, as the disorder itself is known 
still by the name of Clwyf Tegla, that is, 
Thecla's, or Tegla's disorder, as supposed 
to be cured by her influence. This well is 
at Llandegla in Denbighshire ; nearly half 
way between Wrexham and Ruthin. The 
ceremony used there was as follows : — 



Patients in epilepsy washed in the 
well, and having made an offering of a 
" few pence, walked thrice around the 



16 

it 



POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 243 



W well ; and thrice repeated the Lord's 
" prayer. The ceremony never began till 
" after sunset. If the patient was a male, 
" he offered also a cock ; if female, she 
" offered a hen. This fowl was carried in 
" a basket, first round the well, and then 
" into the churchyard, where the ceremony 
" was repeated" (probably of going around 
it thrice, saying the Lord's prayer each 
time). " The patient then entered into 
" the church, and got under the commu- 
" nion-table, where, putting a Bible under 
" his head, and being covered with a car- 
" pet or cloth, he rested till break of day ; 
" and then, having made an offering of 
" sixpence, and leaving the fowl in the 
" church, he departed. If the fowl died, 
" the disorder was supposed to be trans- 
" ferred to it, and the cure to be effected/' 

This account was given of the ceremony 
about a hundred years ago; and is, as I 
have lately been informed, not yet wholly- 
abolished. That its origin is more ancient 
than the commencement of Christianity, 
the offering of a cock, or hen, strongly in- 
dicated, as these birds were held sacred, 

r 2 



a 



a 



244 POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 

and accordingly offered in sacrifice. In an 
old Welsh account of saints'-days, I find 
the following; notice annexed to the name 
of Cynddilig, a Welsh saint. " This saint's 
day is kept in the parish of Rhystud, 
where, from mid-day to mid-night on the 
eve of the winter kalends (first of No- 
vember), the offering of a cock, as a pre- 
servative against the hooping-cough is 
" permitted/' This kind of offering seems 
to have been made in various cases of 
disease ; and some years ago in digging 
up the under part of the floor of an old 
church in the south of England, a con- 
siderable quantity of the bones of fowls 
Avere turned up. The advantages to be de- 
rived from such a superstition were easily 
perceived by the monks of the Romish 
church ; and the use of the Bible, and 
Lord's prayer, was exactly in their style 
of appropriating heathen superstitions. 
The name of St. Thecla is also, most pro- 
bably, an adaptation of the same kind. 
The origin of the name for the epilepsy, 
Tegla, is properly, Teg-glwyf, or the happy 
disorder, since it is even now sometimes 
called Clefyd bendigaid, that is, the blessed 



POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 245 

disorder, in the same manner as St. An- 
thony's fire was called ignis sacer, &c. 
The change of Teg-glzvyf into Tegla, is a 
very simple one, and the name of Thecla, 
was as commodious a succedaneum for 
Tegla, as the warmest wishes of a legend 
writer could possibly desire ; and the pro- 
bability, that such was the real origin of 
this name, will be increased by a similar 
one in the two following instances : — 

• 
If the well of St. Thecla, as it is called, 
has been noted for producing a salubrious 
effect, by a superstitious influence on the 
imagination, that of St. iElian, not far from 
Bettws Abergeley in Denbighshire, is, or was 
till very lately, perniciously resorted to, and 
made use of, to produce an influence of an 
opposite nature upon the imagination ; and 
the consequences have frequently been 
known to be the death of the credulous 
victim. It is not merely an opinion, but 
a firmly-rooted belief among the peasantry 
of this and the neighbouring counties, that 
if any one be, as the common phrase for 
the ceremony is, put into this well, by which 



246 POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 

i, ■ 

is to be understood, the being made sub- 
ject to its influence, that person will pine 
away till the cause is removed. Hence, 
if one of the lower order of the peasantry 
conceived a malignant resentment against 
another, this became a mode not less cer- 
tain, in many instances, than horrible, of 
gratifying the desire of vengeance. Near 
the well resided some worthless and in- 
famous wretch, who officiated as priestess. 
To her the person who wished to inflict the 
curse resorted, and for a trifling sum, she 
registered in a book, kept for the purpose, 
the name of the person on whom it was wish- 
ed it should fall. A pin was then dropped 
into the well in the name of the victim, 
and the report, that such a one had been 
put into the well, soon reached the ears of 
the object of revenge. If this object were a 
person of a credulous disposition, the idea 
soon preyed upon the spirits, and, at length, 
terminated fatally ; unless a timely recon- 
ciliation should take place between the 
parties, in which case the priestess, for a 
fee, erased the name from her book, and 
took the poor wretch out of the well; that 



POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 247 

is, retracted the curse. Where death has 
been the consequence, and, that it has 
been so in many instances, is asserted so 
as to leave little or no doubt of the fact, is 
it less murder in the priestess and the ap- 
plicant, than if it were perpetrated by any 
other means ? Most certainly not. I have 
lately heard that the well has been filled 
up. I hope it is so. For if they who can, 
do not prevent such a practice, they would 
do well to consider whether the omission of 
doing so, does not involve them also in 
some participation of the crime of mur- 
der. 

The ceremony of dropping pins into the 
well is common to other * wells in the 
country; but as to the others, whatever 
idea may originally have been attached 
to the ceremony, it seems to be wholly 
forgotten ; but it appears to have been, at 
first, a kind of offering to the genius of 
the well of some part of the dress, and the 
pin a substitute. 



* It was a custom at Gresford, aud also at a well m 
Barri Island. 



248 POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 

That a well should be dedicated even to 
a popish saint, as a well of cursing, or as a 
means of satiating a diabolical spirit of re- 
venge ; even with every allowance for the 
uncharitable spirit of popery, is not cre- 
dible ; as it would be an encouragement 
to a spirit of revenge amongst its own ad- 
herents. The superstition must, therefore, 
be considered as Druidical ; and, it is 
most probable, that this well was origi- 
nally dedicated to Malaen, the genius of 
destruction, who is represented as a fury ; 
that it was called at first, Ffynnon Malaen; 
and that the monks, finding it difficult to 
eradicate the custom, and wishing to sup- 
press a Druidic appellation, substituted that 
of jEhanfoY Malaen. Such a new dedication, 
and building a church near the well, were 
certainly the best modes of opposing the 
error; and they did, perhaps, all in their 
power to oppose it. Yet were not they, 
nor has the resumption of rational and 
pure Christianity as the ^religion of the 
country, been able to suppress it entirely. 



POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 249 

m 

The following is the account of the Well of 
St> Dwynwen, as given by that able anti- 
quarian Mr. Lewis Morris. 

There was, in Dafydd ap Gwilim's 
" time/' about the middle of the four- 
teenth century, " a vast concourse from all 
" parts of Wales to the monastery of St. 
" Dwynwen in Anglesey, now called 
" Llanddwyn, in ruins. Here were con- 
" stant wax lights kept at the tomb of this 
" virgin saint, where all persons in love 
" applied for remedy, and which brought 
" vast profit to the monks ; and Dwyn- 
" wen was as famous among the Britons 
" in affairs of love, as Venus ever was 
" among the Greeks and Romans, But 
" David ap Gwilim's ludicrous manner 
" of applying to this saint for relief, 
" and his publishing it in a poem (which 
" is in every body's hands), shews how 
" slightly the poet made of these religious 
" cheats. Dear Dwynwen (says he), J, by 
" your virginity, I beg of you, and by the 
" soul of your great father Brychan, send 

this girl to meet me in the grove. You 



<c 



250 POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 

" are in heaven, God will not be angry 
" with you, nor turn you out ; for he will 
" not undo what he has done," &c. 



As it will tend to elucidate the subject, I 
subjoin an account of St, Madderns Well in 
the parish of Penzance, Cornwall. From 
Camden. Ed. Gibson, p. 21, 22. 

" Bishop Hall tells us (Mystery of 
" Godliness), that a cripple, who for 
" sixteen years together was forced to 
" walk upon his hands, by reason of the 
" sinews of his legs being contracted, was 
" induced, by a dream, to wash in this 
" well; which had so good effect, that 
" himself saw him both able to walk, and 
" to get his own maintenance. Two per- 
" sons that had found the prescriptions of 
" physicians altogether unprofitable, went 
" to this well (according to the ancient 
" custom), on Corpus Christi eve, and lay- 
" ing a small offering on the altar, drank 
" of the water, autl lay upon the ground all 
" night, in the morning took a good 



POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 251 



it 



draught more, and each of them carried 
" away some of the water in a bottle. 
" Within three weeks they found the ef- 
" feet of it ; and (their strength increasing 
" by degrees) were able to move them- 
" selves upon crutches. Next year they 
" took the same course, after which they 
" were able to go up and down by 
" the help of a staff. At length one of 
" them, being a fisherman, was, and, if he 
" be alive, is, still able to follow that 
tc business. The other was a soldier under 
" Sir William Godolphin, and died in the 
" service of King Charles I. 

" After this the well was superstitiously 
" frequented, so that the rector of the 
" neighbouring parish was forced to re- 
" prove several of his parishioners for it. 
c ' But accidentally meeting a woman 
" coming from it with a bottle in her hand, 
" and being troubled with cholical pains, 
" desired to drink of it, and iound himself 
" cured of that distemper. 

" The instances are too near our own 
" time, and too well attested, to fall under 



252 POPULAR ANTIQUITIES 



the suspicion of bare traditions, or le- 
gendary fables : and, being so very re- 
markable, may well claim a place here. 
Only, 'tis worth our observation, that 
the last of them destroys the miracle ; 
for, if he was cured upon accidentally 
tasting it, then the ceremonies of offer- 
ing, lying on the ground, &c, contributed 
nothing ; and so the virtue of the water 
claims the whole remedy/' 



a 



I suspect, that the patients who are said 
to have lain on the ground, did so under 
the altar of the church ; as it was the cus- 
tom in other cases of a similar kind. Borlase 
says, the water is simply pure, without any 
mineral impregnation, and rises through 
a stratum of grey moor-stone gravel. He 
adds, " Hither also, on much less justi- 
" fiable errands (than to cure pains in the 
" limbs), come the uneasy, impatient, and 
" superstitious ; and, by dropping pins, or 
" pebbles, into the water, and by shaking 
" the ground round the spring, so as to 
" raise bubbles from the bottom, at a cer- 
" tain time of the year, moon, and day, 
" endeavour to settle such doubts and in- 



POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 253 

" quiries as will not let the idle and anxious 
" rest/' At St. Euny's well, which is si- 
milar in nature to that at St. Maddern's, 
the days were the three first Wednesdays in 
May. 

From these accounts of holy w T ells, the 
effects of superstitious hopes and fears will 
be so manifest, that if some of them should 
have been deemed miraculous by an ig- 
norant peasantry, and their confidence in 
the powers attributed to the wells strongly 
rooted in their minds ; it will be recollect- 
ed, that such prejudices are impressed on 
their imaginations from their infancy, and 
not easily overcome by a maturer un- 
derstanding, unless assisted by information, 
and an experience which they seldom 
can attain. They are, therefore, more de- 
serving of pity than of censure, and of 
information than reproof. But as to cures 
performed at Holywell in Flintshire, as 
there has been published a Narrative by 
Dr. Milner, the Romish Bishop of Casta- 
bala, in which it is- asserted, that a late 
cure is miraculous, and an argument de- 
duced from it, in favour of the doctrines 



254 POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 

of the church of Rome ; I have thought it 
necessary to make some observations on the 
statement of the case, and the arguments 
of Dr. Milner, and the more so, as, in an 
advertisement prefixed to the edition of 
the Narrative which I refer to (London, 
1806), and dated May 1st, it is said, 
" The author has the satisfaction of here 
" declaring, that he has not met with, nor 
" heard of, a reader of any description, 
" who has controverted either the facts or 
" the reasoning contained in it." To this, 
I beg leave to answer, that silence is not 
always an argument of acquiescence ; and 
that, had it not been intimated to me, that 
the silence respecting it, had been pre- 
sumed upon in its favour, I should not 
have thought it necessary to notice it. In 
the same advertisement it is also said, that 
the publication " has met with the appro- 
" bation of his R. R. brethren ;" this ap- 
probation has made it the more necessary 
to examine how far the Narrative is enti- 
tled to attention. This I have, therefore, 
endeavoured to do in a Work I have 
lately published, called, " Animadversions 
on a Pamphlet, entitled, Authentic Do- 



« 



POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 255 

" cuments relative to the Miraculous Cure 
" of Winifred White (of Wolverhampton) 9 
" at St. Wenefrede's Well, alias Holywell, in 
" Flintshire, on the 28th of June, 1805/' 
London, 1814. 



mmm. 






ftV* 



256 POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 



ST. WENEFREDES WELL, 



AT 



HOLYWELL, FLINTSHIRE. 



Whatever may in former times have 
been the celebrity of the wells hitherto 
mentioned, the casual attention of a 
neighbouring peasant, and the traditional 
votive offering from a motiveof superstitious 
regard, rather for an ancient custom than 
any respect for the wells, is in general the 
utmost they receive, excepting the nefa- 
rious practice at the well of Llanelian. They 
are now, in consequence of the better state 
knowledge, owing to the general perusal of 
the Scriptures, almost wholly neglected, 
and (their former supposed virtues and Sa- 
cred character will probably in another 
generation be forgotten!) But, notwith- 
standing this extended prevalence of reason 
and religion, Holywell still exhibits no small 
share of the power of superstition over the 



POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 257 

minds of the weak and the ignorant. Nor 
is this much to be wondered at, since it 
was here that the first efforts of the super- 
stition of popery to fix itself in Wales were 
made. Here it took root and drew nourish- 
ment from those waters, of which it may- 
be hard to determine, whether their virtues 
have been more salutary to the body or 
noxious to the soul. The earliest notice 
of this well extant, is in a legend of St. We- 
nefrede, by one Robert of Shrewsbu^^, who 
is supposed to have been an abbot of that 
town, from which it appears that the well 
had been dedicated to a St. Wenefrede, some 
time before he wrote, which was about the 
year 1140, as the dedication of the legend 
implies, if this could be depended upon ; 
but it is most probably a fictitious re- 
ference intended to conceal the real date. 
What is known with any certainty, as to 
the history of the place, is as follows. Not 
long after that Hugh Lupus, earl of Ches- 
ter, had seized on the maritime coast of 
Flintshire, the monks of the abbey of 
Chester, who, whatever were their errors, 
had a zeal for the promotion of their reli- 
gion, such as it was, worthy of imitation in 



258 POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 

a better cause, sent a few of their frater- 
nity to perform the ecclesiastical duties of 
their religion for their countrymen, and to 
endeavour to convert the Welsh to it. For 
the latter purpose, it was necessary that 
they should fix themselves as nearly as 
possible to the bordering limit between the 
Welsh and English, and yet so as not to 
preclude a retreat if circumstances should 
compel them to it. With these views, no 
place on the coast afforded them a more de- 
sirable situation than Basingwerke, within 
a mile of Holywell. Here a small but plea- 
sant fertile valley, open and gently de- 
scending on one side to an inlet of the sea 
which receives the river Dee, and separates 
the counties of Flint and Chester; on the 
other sides it is sheltered by hills that rise 
boldly and rapidly from the vale, and 
which at that time probably were thickly 
wooded to a great extent, as at present 
they are sufficiently so to embellish the 
scene. Through this valley the stream of 
Holywell, which bursts from the hill above, 
and is at its rise a river, flows by a short 
course to the sea. Thus sheltered from 
the colder winds, and delightfully secluded, 



POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 259 

the spot possessed the advantages also of 
being in the vicinity of the Welsh, and, by 
the short distance from Cheshire, of an easy 
quick passage up the river to Chester with 
the tide. It has even been said that, about 
the time when the monks settled at Basing- 
werke, the river was very easily fordable 
across at low water, though, by the greater 
influx of the sea since, it is much less so, but 
notimpossible; and I have seen a statement 
from observation, that in the seventeenth 
century the high-water mark was consi- 
derably raised in this channel. The 
monks, having made a prudential choice of 
Basingwerke, erected there a small convent 
at first, which had only a few small cells, 
and as such it is described by Giraldus, 
who, when Baldwin, archbishop of Canter- 
bury, made a tour of Wales in order to 
invade the rights of the Welsh churches, 
and usurp a metropolitical power over 
them, accompanied the archbishop, and 
with him visited the place. Afterwards, 
by the benefactions of the earls of Chester 
and others, the convent was enlarged, and 
the abbey, of which there yet remains some 
part, was built, and stood till the reign of 

s 2 



260 POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 

Henry VIII., when it underwent the gene- 
ral fate of similar structures. 

It might be questioned whether the sa- 
lutary effects of the Holywell waters had 
been noticed previous to the settling of the 
monks near it ; and I believe there is no 
trace to be found of any such notice in 
any authentic writings before that time. 
Yet as the stream is so remarkable, and as 
there are so many wells to which some 
Druidical superstition has been attached, 
it is not improbable that it was so here, if 
in the time of the Druids the source was 
inclosed and considered as a well. From 
the present form of the well, however, I am 
more inclined to believe that it was in- 
closed to form a baptistery by the primi- 
tive Welsh Christians, as this form cor- 
responds with a baptistery still remaining 
among the ruins of an ancient chapel near 
St. Asaph. The ancient name seems to 
have been Gwenffrwd, that is, the White 
Stream, or Gwenffrewi, a name, I believe, 
of similar import. It may be fairly consi- 
dered as certain, that the medical virtues of 
the water had not been attributed to any 



POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 26l 

saintly influence in the time of Giraldus. 
For no one could be more zealous than he 
appears to have been in legendary research, 
and a display of the information as to mi- 
racles which his curiosity had obtained 
during his peregrinations in Wales and Ire- 
land ; and yet he does not afford the 
slightest hint of the patronage of St, Wene- 
frede, which since his time has obtained 
such amazing celebrity. The legend 
cannot, therefore, be reasonably thought 
to have been known in his time; for had 
it been so, the monks would hardly 
have failed to have detailed to him the 
history of their patroness, or he to have 
divulged it ; and the more eagerly, as 
legends were the favourite reading of 
the age, and, the miracles asserted by 
the Romish clergy to be wrought by 
saints of their church, the proofs on 
which they insisted particularly as evi- 
dences of the truth of her doctrines ; evi- 
dences, which, in an ignorant age, an age 
incapable of making the just distinction 
between miracles and imposture, were fre- 
quently admitted with a credulity almost 
as extraordinary as the absurdity of the 



262 POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 

legends themselves. When such was the 
practice of the times ; the proximity of a 
stream or well, whose waters were in many 
complaints of great efficacy, affered means 
of attraction too obvious to be overlooked. 
A legend is not a work of that texture to 
require a very scrupulous accuracy or de- 
licate execution. To convert the name of 
the stream into that of a saint, president 
over it s and to invent a few extravagant 
wonders to be attributed to her, was all 
that was necessary. The sublime has been 
defined as the summit between grandeur 
and absurdity; and seldom has legend 
approached nearer to the sublime in the 
gradations on the less favourable side of 
the elevation. To this, as in my animad- 
versions on a pamphlet of Dr. Milner's, I 
have already observed, the custom of ex- 
hibiting the subject of a legend in a dra- 
matic form must have greatly contributed; 
and such, I have no doubt, was the casein 
this instance. The legend appears to have 
been written in Shrewsbury, and was pro- 
bably there made the subject of a mystery, 
or sacred drama. At that time, as the 
clergy of the church of Rome were anxious 



POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 263 

"^ BMMMMB WMMMMM 

to draw the Welsh to join their commu- 
nion, the same means were resorted to as 
had long before been employed in Llan^ 
daff. These were to endeavour to obtain 
relics of some Welsh person who had, 
when alive, been highly esteemed, as of 
holy life and manners ; to enshrine these 
relics and make the original proprietary 
an object of devotion by canonization. In 
the cases of St. Teilo and St. Dubricius 
they had obtained them without difficulty 
from Bardsey ; but in that of StWenefrede 
so many visions, in order to direct the 
search for her bones, are recounted that it 
is more than suspicious that the monks 
knew it was in vain to attempt more than 
to procure bones from Wales and give 
them a name. In fact no such name as 
that of St. Wenefrede is any where to be 
found in the Welsh writings extant, not 
even in the Welsh calendars of saints, 
though several of these are found in various 
collections. The Welsh did not worship 
saints, but had retained the doctrines of 
the primitive church in great purity. The 
Roman Catholic clergy probably were in 
some degree ignorant of this, or at least 



264 POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 

they hoped to allure the Welsh by the 
compliment; though the result of the ex- 
periment was never in any degree success* 
ful, I believe, beyond the range of the 
immediate influence of English power. 

The legend itself is briefly this, as given 
in a paper distributed at the well. < 

• ' That in the year 700 lived Wenefrede, 
" a virgin of extraordinary sanctity, who 
" made a vow of chastity during life, 
" and dedicated herself to the service of 
" God. 

M A heathen prince, named Cradoc, 
" having often attempted Wenefrede's chas-? 
" tity in vain, met her some time after 
" upon the top of the hill near Holywell 
'? church, and struck off" her head, which, 
rolling down the hill, was taken up by 
f the priest of Holywell, who, being a fa- 
vourite of the Almighty, did, by the di- 
? vine assistance, replace the head on We- 
?J nefrede's shoulders, who was thereupon 
*f restored to life, and lived fifteen years 
ti afterwards. 



POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 265 

" That at the very instant Wenefrede was 
" restored to life, this spring arose in that 
" very place, no doubt, in order to perpe- 
" tuate the memory of so great an action, 
" which caused the Christian religion toin- 
" crease in a very extraordinary manner; 
** and Wenefrede being made a saint, the 
* ; holy priest of Holywell named the spring 
ff St. Wenefrede's well." 

A more silly fabrication than this legend 
never perhaps insulted common sense, or 
made credulity ridiculous. It need not 
be denied that the lady's head, by rolling 
down so steep a hill, and such a length of 
way, with an accelerated velocity, may have 
acquired a force sufficient to displace a 
stone or other obstacle to the issuing of a 
spring, and the blow might have so stunned 
the head as* to cause it to stop there ; that 
is, supposing such a person ever did exist; 
but that her head should have been set on 
her shoulders again so exactly as it was 
before, and she have lived fifteen years 
afterwards, may perhaps be credited by 
those who believe that the stone on which 
she annually laid a cloak lor St, Beuno, 



266 POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 

swam away with it and carried it by sea 
to Carnarvonshire, and then swam back to 
Holywell (for this is a part of the story) ; 
but it is a belief more likely to render the 
sound mind of the believer doubtful. 

That the waters are of great efficacy in 
many cases, was well known soon after the 
monks obtained a residence at Holywell, 
for their virtues are recorded in the legend 
as relieving all diseases arising from weak- 
ness of any kind, and hence, its repute 
being once raised by a legendary miracle, 
it has been more frequented than any other 
well in Wales. 

The respect for wells in Scotland and 
Ireland has also long been and still is pre- 
valent It is a part of the same general 
Pagan superstition. In both it is a custom 
of the ignorant to visit them, and bits of 
rags, which they hang on bushes near the 
well, or small pieces of money*. In Ire- 
land the wells near an old blasted oak, or 
an upright hewn stone, are most respected, 

ii ' . . i .I . ■. 1. 1 ii ■ i ■ . ■ ■ i I. w 

* Columbanus's third letter, page 83, &c. 



POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 267 

and the visitants will crawl round these 
from East to West on their knees, three, 
six, or nine times, as a voluntary penance. 
Some of these ceremonies were also per- 
formed as the means of preserving cattle 
from disorders ; of propitiating the fairies, 
and the rags appear to have been left in 
the hope of leaving with them any disorder 
with which the person who left the rags 
was affected, in the same manner as the 
cause of warts is supposed to be transferred 
to bits of stolen meat, or to grain, and 
when the meat or grain perishes to perish 
with them. In all these cases the origin 
was the superstition of Paganism, and the 
continuation of such practices, whether 
from custom or superstition, is equally a 
disgrace to a Christian country, and it is 
to be hoped that it will not endure much 
longer. 



268 POPULAR ANTIQUITIES 



OMENS AND PREDICTIONS, 



In common with every other nation, a 
regard for omens and predictions, has been 
very prevalent amongst the Welsh ; but 
that for omens is now almost forgotten, ex- 
cept in a few retired situations ; and the 
omens themselves, when attended to, dif- 
fered little from those of their neighbours, 
and, therefore, need no particular descrip- 
tion. With respect to predictions, it is 
far otherwise ; as it might be expected in 
a nation which, for so many years, was en- 
couraged to maintain the contest for its 
rights, by the predictions handed down 
from age to age, as those of infallible pro- 
phets, some of whom, probably, were 
Druids. After the happy termination of 
that contest, the attention to the ancient 
prophecies, no longer of importance than 
as subjects of curiosity, has been suspend- 
ed ; or rather diverted to other predictions 
which have nothing but the confidence of 
imposture to recommend them. A for* 



POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 269 

tune-teller, or astrologer, is resorted to by 
the ignorant; when anxiety as to the fu- 
ture, is excited whether by hopes or fears, 
to learn what may be gained, or to re- 
cover what has been lost ; and the power 
the impostors have over some minds, is 
sometimes prodigious. It cannot, how- 
ever, be thought very strange, that they 
should find such credit in Wales, when, 
even in the metropolis of the kingdom, 
pretences of a similar kind, have not long 
ago drawn crowds of visitors, solicitous as 
to their destiny. Whatever may be the 
degree of information attributed to the age, 
this is no favourable symptom as to its 
religious state, for a belief in fatalism is 
too frequently the consequence of a dere- 
liction of the hope and dependence which 
religion inspires- If may, therefore, be of 
some use to shew how unfounded and 
imaginary the principles of this pretended 
science are, and how vain the hope of 
gaining real information from it as to the 
future is ; and as it may also tend, in some 
degree, to elucidate the history of astro- 
nomy, an investigation of the first princi- 
ples of astrology is subjoined. 



270 POPULAR ANTIQUITIES, 



AN ESSAY ON ASTROLOGY. 



An inquisitiveness as to future events is, 
in some degree, a necessary consequence 
of the importance we attach to them, and 
where they depend on circumstances 
which we cannot regulate, a power which 
we cannot evade, and a will which we can 
neither scrutinize nor control ; the anxiety 
will increase according to the magnitude 
of our hopes and fears. Hence, in all ages, 
some means have been resorted to for the 
discovery of that which was to come; 
and, as with our limited knowledge and 
observation, we are able, in some measure, 
to foresee what will follow from particular 
circumstances or modes of action, in which 
persons of certain dispositions are engaged, 
and also to determine the regular effects 
of physical causes ; it is readily inferred 
that beings of a higher order, and endowed 
with a much more extensive intelligence 



POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 271. 

' i in ■» '■ ■ ■ ■ ■ . ii 

may and must be able to discern much to 
which our faculties cannot attain. From 
the connexion of cause and effect, a most 
dangerous supposition* that all things are 
but so manj Jinks in an established, univer- 
sal series of necessary consequences, has 
been also inferred ; which, if the absurdity 
of the conclusion be admitted to argue an 
error in the premises, whether the error be 
perceived or not, cannot be true ; and it 
is absurd, that man should have the con- 
sciousness of acting as a free agent, and 
should conduct himself towards others as 
such, on the principle, that they have a 
similar consciousness, were it not so in 
reality. It is also evidently a most dan- 
gerous principle, as being destructive of all 
merit or demerit ; and is contradicted by 
every legal institution, whether divine or 
human ; because a law presupposes free 
agency. Nor is this incompatible with a 
general plan of action, or a particular de- 
termination of certain events ; but, on the 
contrary, the great use of free agency is 
the power it has of forming a plan of ac- 
tion, and according to the wisdom and 
power of the agent inducing events, which 



272 POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 

man, as a free agent, must, within certain 
limits, be able to do. Beyond this limit y 
his own knowledge cannot go, and hence 
he has endeavoured to learn it by other 
means. Calling imagination to his aid, 
he soon forms an easy theory from any re- 
petition of one pleasant or unpleasant cir- 
cumstance having soon succeeded, to one 
which was singular or uncommon. Did 
a victory follow after that an eagle had 
hovered over an army, or perched on its 
standard ; the eagle became the omen of 
conquest. Did a gloomy dream disturb 
the rest of an anxious mind, and evil pre- 
vious in the apprehension follow ; the 
dream was predictive. Do the heavenly 
bodies regulate the times of human ac- 
tions, and measure their existence ; has 
any one, whose birth was marked by the 
rising sun, risen to pre-eminence, and ran 
a course of glory ; the heavenly bodies in- 
dicated the fate of mortal life, by their ap- 
pearance at his birth. Such was, probably, 
some event which gave the first idea of 
astrological observation; but there must 
have been something much more important 
to have excited the attention to such a^ 



POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 273 

degree, that astrology should have become 
a scientific pursuit, and deemed worthy of 
the study of the learned; some respect in 
which a real knowledge of a connexion, 
or at least a correspondence, generally cer- 
tain between particular celestial pheno- 
mena and events im portant to be made, had 
encouraged the hope of discovering other 
correspondencies, and given confidence 
to other predictions, than those in which 
they were justified by events. This justi- 
fication I conceive it to have found ori- 
ginally in medical observation, and parti- 
cularly in cases of epilepsy and fever. 
The fits of epilepsy or madness and the pa- 
roxysms and crises of fevers, have too evi- 
dent a dependence on, or relation to, the 
age of the moon to have remained long 
unobserved by physicians. The recurrence 
of the fits at the full of the moon is so well 
known, that the disorder, or the person 
afflicted by it, is, in many languages, dis- 
tinguished by a term denoting an effect of 
the moon, as lunacy, moon-struck, &c, 
even in common conversation, and the 
correspondence observed to exist between 
the paroxysms and crises of fever, and the 

T 



2?4» POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 

age of the moon, which have been often 
noticed, but particularly by Dr. Barlow, 
in his Letter on the Fever of India, ad- 
dressed to the East-India Company, in so 
very able and satisfactory a manner as to 
leave no doubt of the fact. 

A man who is actuated by a spirit of 
research, is not likely to rest satisfied with 
the gratification of the single discovery of 
an interesting fact ; but, on the contrary, is 
much more disposed to consider it as 
opening the path to an extensive though 
unknown region, which may well reward 
the labour of research : whither it may lead 
is at first but conjecture ; but the hope of 
success ultimately, will excite the imagi- 
nation to draw inferences from every cir- 
cumstance, and to form some kind of hy- 
pothesis, as the guide to further progress. 
Whether any hypothesis be right or wrong, 
true or false, must depend on experimental 
or other rational proof; and had the 
certainty of proof equalled the ingenuity 
of the hypothesis, astrology might have 
claimed a place in the first rank of science. 
Still though it he, as it certainly is, desti- 



POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 275 

lute of proof as to the fundamental prin- 
ciples, yet the mode of reasoning adopted 
in laying them down, as far as it can be 
collected from the principles, is not with- 
out sufficient plausibility to amuse and in- 
terest. Some of its rules are such as to 
throw light on the history of astronomy ; 
and others might, perhaps, be attended to 
by the physician and the naturalist with 
advantage ; and these it will be my endea- 
vour to point out. 

When the influence of the moon on dis- 
ease was found to be an established fact, 
and more especially, that in cases of lu- 
nacy, this influence affected the mind upon 
which the government and regulation of 
conduct, and so far the fortune of life, de- 
pend ; it was no great extravagance of the 
imagination to suppose, that its effects on 
the mind and body of the infant at its 
birth, when both might be presumed to 
be in the weakest state, and most sus- 
ceptible of impression, did determine the 
degree of their strength or weakness through 
life, and therefore, the fate of the infant as 
it depended on these. In aid of this sup- 

t 2 



276 POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 

position, the obvious comparison of the 
changes of the moon to the mutability of 
fortune, could not but appear as corrobo- 
rating its probability. But, however great 
the influence of the moon, its light was 
borrowed, and its influence, probably, con- 
troled by the sun ; apparently the lord of 
the world, and source of life ; uniform in 
his appearance, regular in his course, and 
beneficent in his power, and unrivalled in 
visible splendour. To his influence, there- 
fore, correspondent benefits only could be 
attributed. Another correspondence was 
easily deducible from the resemblance of 
the period of human life to the diurnal or 
revolutional periods of the heavenly bo- 
dies ; and hence the influence of each also 
was supposed to be the most favourable 
to man, when its apparent splendour is 
greatest; that is, when on the meridian, 
and their combined influence most power- 
ful in conjunctions, and least in oppo- 
sition, if of different kinds, it being esti- 
mated in the first case as the sum, and in 
the second, as the difference of their re- 
spective powers, but in both cases preju- 
dicial. In the intermediate positions, the 



POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 277 

combined influence was consequently esti- 
mated by the interval. That this was so, 
is clearly perceived from the place to which 
the fortune of life is referred in astrological 
delineations of the places of the heavenly 
bodies. For the sun being the promoter 
of life, and the moon significant of its va- 
riations as to good or ill, as nearer to, or 
more remote from, the sun, or rather sig- 
nificant of diminution of good (its known 
influence in disease being of a prejudicial 
kind) ; the place of fortune is estimated by 
the distance of the moon from the sun, 
and therefore, according to the supposed 
effect of their combined influence on hu- 
man life in general. 

When conjecture had proceeded thus 
far in forming a system, an application of 
the same mode of reasoning to the stars 
then known as planets, was too necessary 
and too natural to be overlooked, or 
omitted. It was too necessary, because 
that variations of the places of two bodies 
only, could not be accommodated to the 
multiplicity of the variations in life ; and 
it was too natural, because their revolu- 



$^8 POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 

tions seemed analogous to those of the 
moon, though of different periods. If* 
like her, they had proper motions, their 
being so distinguished from other stars 
seemed to intimate, that they had proper 
influences also ; and if the distance of the 
moon from the earth did not preclude her 
influence, it did not appear why their 
greater distance should hinder their in- 
fluence, since it did not prevent their 
light from pervading that space. Here a 
new supposition as to the nature of the par-- 
ticular influence of each was necessary to 
the system, and as the nature of that of 
the sun and moon had been inferred from 
their phenomena, so was that of the planets. 
Other means they could not have, except 
by revelation, or by observations, which 
would demand an attention, and discrimi- 
nation, and mechanical aid, perhaps, be- 
yond the human powers, and a length of 
time beyond the acknowledged duration of 
the world to complete them, if there were 
such influence. But we have no reason 
to imagine, that any revelation was ever 
given on the subject ; and, from the in- 
fluences attributed to the planets, it is 



POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 279 

evident, that they were merely inferred 
from their phenomena, upon the supposi- 
tion, that the phenomena were intended to 
indicate the influence of each respectively. 
Thus from Mercury's celerity of motion and 
proximity to the sun, this planet was made 
the significator of genius, and the qualifi- 
cations which attend it according to the 
good or bad use made of it. In like man- 
ner the brilliancy of Venus caused it to be 
esteemed the significator of beauty, and 
its consequences. Mars, in like manner, 
of war, or warlike disposition, from his 
ruddy colour. The steady and magnifi- 
cent light of Jupiter could not fail to claim 
for him the seat of supremacy, and, ac- 
cordingly, he is made the significator of 
power and dignity, calm, generous, and 
firm; while, on the contrary, by the dusky 
hue of Saturn, the sluggish motion, and 
comparatively depressed station of his 
greatest northern latitude, he acquired the 
character of signifying gloom, misfortune, 
calamity, and death. All these characters 
are so simply and readily deducible in this 
manner, as to leave no doubt but that they 
were so deduced, and, in the application, 



280 POPULAR ANTIQUITIES, 

modified as observation or fancy connected 
particular features, or other peculiarities 
of person, with those which were presumed 
to be the predominant qualities of the 
mind ; and such are those which are to be 
found in treatises on astrology* 

Such a system, whenever it had to any 
degree taken hold of the mind, could not 
be put to any practical use without the aid 
of astronomy. For if the influences of the 
heavenly bodies were greatest when they 
were in the meridian, and diminished in 
proportion to their distance from it; the 
calculation of a nativity required the know- 
ledge of their places at the time. 

There are many books which treat of the 
history of astronomy, and of these I have 
met with none more entertaining, or more 
full of information, than those of Mr. Cos- 
tard and the Abbe Le Pluche, but none of. 
them have, I believe, much, if at all, no- 
ticed some curious intimations which may 
be collected from its practical use in as- 
trology. 



POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 281 

Of these, the first which presents itself to 
consideration, is the astrological scheme of 
the heavens. This figure represents the 
heavens by the space included between a 
greater square, and a lesser square within it, 
the sides of which are parallel to those of 
the greater. In this figure, then, the inte- 
rior square originally represented the earth 
as a square area, surrounded by the hea- 
vens ; this is the representation given of it 
in some of the Hindu delineations, and it 
is probably the first mode in which it was 
attempted to give one, and from which we 
can understand, that the scriptural ex- 
pression of The four corners of the earthy 
was used in conformity to a received idea, 
that the earth was square. Another idea 
of the Hindus is, that in the middle of 
this square earth the mountain Meru rises, 
so large and to such a height, that its 
shadow, as the sun revolves around it, 
causes the night of those who are in the 
shadow. 

As the year consists of twelve lunar 
months upon a rough computation, the 
scheme of the heavens was divided into 



282 



POPULAR ANTIQUITIES, 




twelve compartments, which are called 

houses, as in the an- 
nexed figure; but 
this kind of figure 
received no further 
improvement, and 
being useless in a 
more advanced state 

of astronomical knowledge, it has been re- 
tained only in astrology, and is now interest- 
ing chiefly as affording a reference to the 
original seat of astrological science, and a 
specimen of the earliest conceptions and 
attempts in the study of astronomy, cer- 
tainly previous to the use of the circle, as 
the square could never have superseded 
the circle; whereas the reverse was what 
might have been expected. In the figure 
the numbers mark the twelve houses in the 
same sense, and in the like manner, as 
the Hindu astronomers use the word man- 
sions when they speak of the mansions 
of the moon, for so many portions of a re- 
volution ; and the order of the houses is 
according to the proper motion of the 
planets in their orbits, viz., from west to 
east. In this figure the dotted line E W 



POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 283 

will represent the horizon ; the upper half 
of the squares ESW, the illuminated half 
of the earth and heavens at midday to 
the observer, and the other half the ob- 
scured ; that is, according to the idea of 
the earth's being in this form. 

But, though the order of the houses is 
according to the proper motion of the 
planets, the order of the progress of human 
life, was from the obvious comparison of 
it to the diurnal course of the sun, made 
to agree with it. Hence the commence- 
ment of life is referred to the east, its me- 
ridian to the south, and its decline to the 
west ; and, as it has already been observed, 
the favourable places or circumstances in- 
dicated the southern, and the unfavourable 
to the northern half; as any treatise on the 
subject will shew. 

From this division of the figure no pre- 
cision in astronomy was to be obtained \ 
and even in astrology, when observation 
had attained to a more correct notion of 
the form of the earth, and applied the re- 
sults of observation to its own use, the 



284 POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 

European astrologers, instead of substi- 
tuting a more commodious figure, retained 
this ; and contented themselves by noting 
the place of a planet in any sign or house, 
by writing the degrees and minutes de- 
noting the place, and prefixing the cha- 
racter of the planet. This pertinacious ad- 
herence to so rude a figure can only be ac- 
counted for by that prejudice in favour of 
old-established rules ; and ^frequently a 
salutary one, common to the majority of 
mankind. It is, however, in this case, the 
more remarkable, as it appears from Vol. II. 
of the Asiatic Researches, that in a Hindu 
Zodiac, the earth, though conceived to be 
a plain, is bounded by a circle, and an 
exterior concentric circle bounds the hea- 
vens, the signs of the zodiac being marked 
on this last. When the substitution of the 
circle for the square had taken place, the 
circle being divided into twelve equal por- 
tions, answering to the twelve signs of the 
zodiac, or the twelve months of the year, 
it seems that the length of the lunar month 
had not even been so nearly observed, as 
to be estimated at thirty days. For Scaliger * 

* Note on Manilius, pages 173, 9. 



POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 285 

has shewn, that the Egyptian astrologers 
divided each sign, not into thirty degrees, 
or equal portions, but into twelve, ad- 
hering, it may be presumed, to the first 
number which marked a division of the 
circle, when it was to be subdivided. In 
general the first idea is in such cases pur- 
sued, unless some necessity interrupts it, 
as in the subdivision by tens of decimals, 
and by sixties of minutes. And thus the 
subdivision by twelve, was applied to the 
day and to the night, each being divided 
into twelve hours, and * the hours also 
were divided, in like manner, into twelfth 
parts. 

It may be urged, indeed, that the first 
astronomical instruments did not admit of 
a lesser subdivision ; but this affords no 
reason why the subdivisions were carried 
on by twelfths, rather than the simple ones 
by bisection ; and the substitution of the 
division into thirty degrees, therefore, must 
have been a substitution, when the lunar 



* Manilius, page 244. 



286 POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 

month was observed to be so nearly thirty 
days, as to have been so reckoned. Ac- 
cording to the account of the deluge, as 
given by Moses, the year was of 360 
days, and perhaps before that event, the 
lunar month was of 30 ; and if so, the tra- 
dition of the subdivision of the circle by 
twelve, may have been an antediluvian 
one. But this kind of conjecture is too 
uncertain to be of any use, as it can only 
be conjecture. It may, however, be some- 
thing more than conjecture to observe, 
that as the twelve degrees into which each 
sign appears to have been originally di- 
vided, were, for more accuracy, subdivided 
into halves, so also the thirty degrees of 
each sign appear to have been halved also; 
and hence, there being 60 of these sub- 
divisions in a sign, the custom of subdi- 
viding degrees, &c, into sixtieths, seems to 
have arisen. 

A curious instance of this subdivision 
appears in an old cabalistic disposition of 
the letters of three verses in Exodus, each 
of which contains seventy-two letters. The 



POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 287 

letters are arranged in threes, viz., one 
from each verse, as to form ten sets of words 
(each word consisting of three letters), and 
each set consisting of seventy-two words, in 
all 720 words, and 2,160 letters, which let- 
ters are numerical. The whole of these sets 
are given by Galatinus, who, on the autho- 
rity of the rabbins, says, they are many 
names, or titles of the Deity, and, as such, 
gives significations of them, many of which 
are forced, and none of which could be of 
any particular use. Their real use I there- 
fore conclude to have been, for astrono- 
mical calculation ; as, I believe, the greater 
part of cabalistic words were originally ; 
though the cabalists, to conceal their know- 
ledge, made use of supposed names of the 
Deity, and of other spirits, good or evil, 
to record their astronomical system, their 
methods of calculation, &c. The caba- 
listic sets of words, or, as I presume, tables, 
appear to be more ancient than the time 
of Hillel, to whom Bishop Beveridge, in his 
Chronology, assigns the known Jewish me- 
thod of astronomical calculation ; for, in 
this last, the hour is divided into 1080 he- 



288 POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 

lakim, or parts, which is equal to |~ or 
720x3, and seems to have been preferred, 
as a more convenient number for use than 
720 or 2,160, which were, I presume, prior 
subdivisions of degrees and hour, and re- 
linquished in favour of one more useful. 
The bishop says, that this number was 
adopted, because it is divisible by every 
number from one to ten, except seven, and 
the subdivision by 60, because 60 is di- 
visible by 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6; which is a suf- 
ficient reason in itself, though that which 
has been already given, seems to have led 
to it. 

This subdivision was carried still further 
by the Egyptians. Scaliger says, they di- 
vided a degree of the ecliptic into 214,000 
parts, and, consequently, the ecliptic into 
7,704,000 parts; and, in estimating the de- 
grees in the proportional parts of the 
equator, or any parallel circles which were 
above and below the horizon, they first 
divided twelve into two numbers propor- 
tional to these two parts, e. g. 9 12 into 
7 and 5; and then calculated the de- 



POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 289 

grees, by finding the proportion of 1080 
(=12X90) to 7,704,000. In stating this, 
Scaliger, who, though he corrects the num- 
ber as given by Firmicus, by reading qua- 
dringenta for quadraginta, considers the 
notice taken of this mode of computation 
by Manilius as superfluous, has treated it as 
such; for a moment's reflection would have 
sufficed to have shewn him not only that 
1080 is no proportional part of 7,704,000, 
but that the latter number is erroneous, 
and certainly should be, I believe, 7,776,000, 
=360X60X30X12, or 1080x2 X60X 
60=2160X60X60, according to which 
the degree will consist not of 21,400, but 
of 21,600 parts, or of 1080X2 parts, and 
the number 108.0 be an aliquot part of the 
greater number. 

The subsequent progress of astronomical 
science, needs no detail here ; I therefore 
proceed to the means of calculating the 
influence of the heavenly bodies on man, 
which were adopted by astrologers. 

The suppositions made as to the real 



290 POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 

magnitudes and distances of the sun and 
planets, When astronomy was in its infancy, 
could be of little or no use in calculations 
of their influences ; and in astrology, nei- 
ther magnitudes nor distances were at- 
tended to in calculation, nor does even a 
conjecture respecting either seem to have 
been made when the astrological method 
of calculating the influences was fixed. 
Yet it displays an ingenuity in the inventor 
which, with a better knowledge, would 
have been capable of making great im- 
provements in science, and which none of 
J»is successors, in the same study, was for- 
tunate enough to possess ; and it also 
shews, that in his time the circle was 
brought into use. 

"When it had been assumed, that the 
combined influence of any two heavenly 
bodies was equal to the sum of their single 
influences when those bodies were in con- 
junction, and to the difference when in op- 
position, to find the combined influence 
when in other situations they proceeded 



_ 



POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 



291 




thus. Having described a circle to repre- 
sent theecliptic, 
they described 
in it a triangle, 
a square, and a 
hexagon ; and 
the bases of all 
three being pa- 
rallel to each 

other, and a radius being drawn perpen- 
dicular to these bases, the portions of the 
radius extending from the centre to either 
of these bases, was made to represent the 
inverse ratio of the combined influence of 
any two bodies so situated in the circle at 
the interval denoted by such base. Thus, 
in the annexed figure, if in the circle 
KLMNj of which C is the centre, the 
lines A B, D E, and F G, be respectively 
the sides of the inscribed triangle, square, 
and hexagon, it is evident that the side of 
the triangle is nearer to the centre than 
that of the square, and the side of the 
square than that of the hexagon, their dis- 
tances being as C O, C P, and C Q, or 
nearly as 5, 7, 8, and the influence of the 

u2 



292 POPULAR ANTIQUITIES 



nearest to the centre being considered the 
greatest, that of two planets, one of which 
was at A, and the other at B, was to be 
considered as greater than if they were 
at D and E, and greater at D and E than 
at FandG, that is, greater in trine than 
in quartile, and in quartile in the inverse 
proportion of the distances. The trine 
was also thought the most favourable, as 
equally remote from the conjunction or 
opposition. It was unnecessary to intro- 
duce other figures, as the side of a hexagon 
subtends two signs, that of the square three, 
and that of the trigon four. 

Hence in the astrological schemes of na- 
tivities, the places of the heavenly bodies 
being found by calculation, and so noted in 
the scheme, their favourable aspects, or the 
contrary, and their influences, or predictive 
intimations, were estimated according to 
their respective and relative places and in- 
fluences. 

Though in these progressive steps to- 
wards scientific knowledge, it is interesting 
to observe how fertile the human mind is 



POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 293 

in conjecture and resources ; and how 
strongly, and almost indelibly, original 
prepossessions and ideas must have been 
impressed upon it, and adhered to, since 
they are still discernible ; yet that the prin- 
ciples on which astrological predictions 
were founded were entirely imaginary, ex- 
cepting those which experience proved the 
two great luminaries to have on diseases, 
and that even the principles on which their 
effect in these cases were calculated, were 
erroneous, will be abundantly evident from 
the origin to which they have in the fore* 
going observations been traced. 

To pursue the subject further, as to the 
progress of astrology, would be idle and 
useless ; it shall, therefore, suffice to notice 
a few circumstances which may, perhaps, 
be found not wholly unworthy of attention, 
though connected with so fallacious and 
absurd a study as astrology, 

I. In the calculation of the places of 
the planets it is remarkable, that a sis;n 
was, in the most ancient method, said to 
ascend above the horizon regularly every 



294 POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 

two hours. This, Manilius says, was the 
common or vulgar opinion, which he justly 
states to be erroneous ; but a common 
opinion in such cases is generally a tradi- 
tional one ; and this may be so esteemed. 
But it could not be the traditional opinion 
of Italy or Greece, where the inequalities 
of the length of days recurred too fre- 
quently for any such tradition ever to have 
originated there. It could have originated 
only where the disparity was so small, as 
that the days and nights should, to the first 
astrologers, have appeared constantly to be 
so nearly equal, as without a gross error in 
a rude calculation, might be so estimated. 
This is also confirmed by the similar tradi- 
tion of the divisions of the day and night 
into twelve equal hours each, and by the 
oriental figure of the scheme of the hea- 
vens. . 

Bishop Horsley, in his exquisite tract on 
a passage in Virgil, has most ingeniously de- 
duced from a tradition as to the appearance 
of Procyon, that it must have originated 
in the latitude of 13° north, and with this 

the above-mentioned traditions, as those o£ 



POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 295 

astronomy or astrology in the infancy of 
science agree sufficiently, as in that latitude 
the greatest difference of the length of the 
longest and shortest day is l h 34 m ; and 
consequently, the difference of the hour, 
or twelfth part of the longest day, and 
that of the shortest, does not exceed eight 
minutes, which is so small a difference, 
that, in the first age of the science, it pro- 
bably was not well known, or if at all 
known, was not taken into calculation. 

If these traditions be admitted, as tra- 
ditions of the fathers of astronomy, the 
origin of the science must be referred either 
to Africa, the most southern part of 
Arabia, or Hindostan ; and as the Hindus 
alone, as far as I know, have preserved 
such a traditional idea of the form of the 
earth, viz., a square plain, as agrees with 
and explains, the astrological figure ; this 
seems to have originated with them. 

II. A second inference may be drawn 
from the preceding observations, as to a 
tradition of the Babylonians and the C^u- 
pasian astronomers, mentioned by Cicerq 



296 POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 

■ ' ' ■ ll " ' ".. ' ■■■ ' ■■ II 

in his Tract on Divination, viz., that they 
had memorials extending as far back as 
470,000 years. The exaggeration in the 
number of years is justly ridiculed by 
Cicero, if his report was correct. But may 
he not have misconceived the import of 
the words ? May not the assertion of these 
astronomers have been, that their record of 
years went back as far as 470,000 of the 
divisions, that is, of the least divisions of 
the zodiac ? 

If this number be divided by 21,600, 
or 21,400, the number of these least divi- 
sions in a degree, the quotient will be 
21,76 or 21,96', degrees of the zodiac, or, 
more properly, of the ecliptic, which, esti- 
mating the precession of the equinoxes at 
one degree in 72 years, the time of the 
precession over 21,7 or 21,9 degrees, would 
be 1,576 or 1,569 years. Hence, as Cicero 
died B. C. 42, it will not be wholly incon- 
sistent with probability to infer, that the Ba- 
bylonians referred to an epoch from which 
the vernal intersection of the equator and 
ecliptic had passed over about 22 degrees, 
the date of which epoch is about 1,600 



POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 297 

years B. C. This explanation, if it does 
no more, will reconcile the tradition with 
other accounts of the early study of astro- 
nomy by the Babylonians, so as to bring 
the possibility of the truth of the tradition 
within the limits of authentic history. 

III. When astrology was applied to 
medical uses, it appears, that the charac- 
ters used to denote the several planets, 
were also used to denote what were con- 
ceived to be correspondent effects of herbs 
in medicine. Thus, an herb said to be 
under the dominion of the sun, signifies, 
that it is corroborant, &c, and the cha- 
racter , seems to have been used as the 
secret note of the properties of such an 
herb. These characters may, perhaps, 
still be so far useful, as denoted the opinion 
of a medical man of the virtues of a plant, 
according to his experience, or received 
tradition. 

IV. As the medical astrologers seem to 
have attended with great care to the in- 
fluence of the moon on disorders, it may 
perhaps be worth while to compare what 



298 POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 

they have said concerning this and other 
subjects, mentioned by Mr. Barlow; as it 
seems to be from such observations as to 
the lunar month originally, that the lucky 
and unlucky days of the month were noted, 
and from the lunar month transferred to 
the calendar month, and, consequently, 
displaced. It is remarkable, that the 15th, 
19th, 20th, and 21st, are noted as the 
chief unlucky days ; and these are the days 
of full moon, and the days preceding the 
last quarter; and in fever, the 15th, 19th, 
and 21st days, are critical ; and hence it 
may, without much risk, be concluded, 
that the unfavourable days of the moon's 
age in disease, were supposed to be unfa- 
vourable in other respects, and that, for a 
like reason, Saturday, or the seventh day 
of the moon was unpropitious, Perhaps 
similar observations as to the weather 
might be traced to somewhat like a regular 
prognostication. Old St. Swithin's day 
was the 15th after the summer solstice. 
Did the tradition respecting it relate to 
the fifteenth day, or the second change of 
$he moon after this solstice ? 



POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 299 

* 

For the benefit of believers in astrological 
predictions, I will offer the following nar- 
rative, which is taken from Scaliger's pre- 
face to Manilius. 

Note what occurred in A. D. 1179> 
when all the astrologers of the east, whe- 
ther Christians, Jews, or Saracens, sent 
out letters as if they had been royal de- 
spatches, or proclamations, to every part 
of the world, in which they predicted, that 
the seventh year following, viz., A. D. 1186, 
there would be such disastrous storms and 
tempests, that the general apprehension 
throughout these seven years imbittered 
human life. For the astrologers announced 
that there would be a great conjunction of 
all the planets, superior and inferior, in the 
month of September, which would be pre- 
ceded by an eclipse of the sun, on the 19th 
of April in that year. In short, such was 
the terror raised by the prediction, that it 
was believed by every one, that the end of 
the world was undoubtedly at hand. But, 
according to Rigordus, who published two 
of their letters, and outlived the predicted; 
time, by many years, tiie event completely 



300 POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 

exposed the vanity of astrologic science, 
I will now conclude with observing, that 
as Nostradamus lived in an age when as-* 
trology was in high repute, it is most pro- 
bable, that his prophecies are quatrains, 
composed so as to express his judgments 
of events founded on the appearances or 
schemes of the heavens, successively cal- 
culated and delineated according to the 
astrological system of the times. It is 
scarcely possible otherwise to account for 
the amazing variety of his predictions. It 
would have been very surprising if, out of 
the nine hundred stanzas, each of which, 
in general, contain several prophecies, some 
resemblance to some events could not have 
been made out, and yet very little has, 
though he gave them every advantage, that 
obscure expression could give to judgments 
derived from the most fallible of all means 
of acquiring information. 




ZHaveU sculp': 



THE BO¥ OIF WAR U PEACE 



JBubTished/jtfi \Jbugusb,3.824. ly JZWiniams, Jtra/ul. 



POPULAR AKTTQUTTIES. 301 



THE BOW OF WAR AND PEACE, 



It frequently happens that traces of an- 
cient but obsolete customs, may be per- 
ceived in proverbial expressions, which, 
though used in a secondary sense, and 
without any reference in the mind of the 
speaker to the literal or original meaning, 
do nevertheless suffer that original appli- 
cation, or the cause of it, to appear. Of 
this kind are the expressions which I am 
now about to produce relative to the pro- 
clamation of war and peace. By his- 
torians we are informed, that at such and 
such times either was proclaimed, but of 
the manner in which it was so in Britain, 
neither Caesar nor any later historian, that 
I know of, has taken any notice; though it 
is an obvious subject of inquiry, how, in 
in those times, intelligence of so great im- 
portance, could be conveyed with the ne- 
cessary despatch, and in such a manner 
a& to be sufficiently public and intelligible* 



302 POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 

-■■in — 

This, in the time of Howel Dda, is said 
to have been done by the sound of the 
horn, as in later times by the sound of 
the trumpet ; but there appears to have 
been a more ancient mode, which was not 
the less advantageous because more simple. 
Lewis o'r Glynn, a Welsh poet, speaking 
of a proclamation of war, says, 

Bwa rhadded drwy holl Brydain. 
A bow was sent throughout all Britain, 

There is also a proverbial expression 
still in use in directing a person to take 
the straight road, viz., 

Ewch o hyd y bwa hedd. 
Go along the bow of peace. 

From a comparison of these two expres-» 
sions it is not a rash conclusion to infer, 
that when war was to be proclaimed, cou-* 
riers were sent in different directions, each 
bearing and displaying a bent bow; and in 
proclaiming peace, a bow unstrung, and 
therefore straight, as intimated in the latter 
expression. The bow was thus the era- 
blem of either state, of war or peace, and, 
when exhibited, was a sign which none 



POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 303 

could fail to understand, and none which 
the summoned would dare to disobey. To 
hold it out to a multitude was sufficient to 
declare its purpose, nor will there easily 
be found, in any of the various methods 
adopted by different nations, with the like 
intent, one more simple, more elegant, or 
more effectual. 

Another Welsh proverbial expression 
conveys the idea, that captives had once 
been sometimes sacrificed. The expression 
is, " Bwrw caeth i gythraul," that is, " to 
" devote the captive to the evil spirit/' an 
expression which, though in its present use 
it signifies no more than " that the weak 
" are treated contemptuously by the 
" strong/' does, in its literal sense, indi- 
cate but too clearly, that in Pagan times 
captives had been sacrificed, and that this 
sacrifice was offered to a spirit, supposed 
to be of a malignant disposition. 



304 POPULAR ANTIQUITIES, 



ADDENDA 



DELINEATION OF THE CITY OF TROY. 

The same figure is given as that of the 
Cretan Labyrinth, on a Gem delineated 
in the Museo Fiorentino, Vol. III. ; and in 
Vol. II., p. 480, of the Asiatic Researches, 
it is said to have been originally used in 
the Hindu astrology, but how it was ap- 
propriated is not mentioned. The fact, 
however, is curious, as it shews the great 
antiquity of this singular figure, which, as 
the lines are eight, marking the boundaries 
of seven walls, according to the tradition ; 
seems to have been originally intended to 
denote so many spheres of the heavens. 

TEMPLE AT CARNAC. 

At Carnac (in Egypt), which is a part 
of the ancient Thebes, there are ruins of a 
most magnificent temple. Pococke, Vol. I. 
p. 91. From the extent of the ruins in 
b©th places, and the temple at Carnac in 



POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 305 

France's, bearing the same appellation as 
the temple in Egypt, there can be no 
doubt, but that the worship in both was of 
the same kind. 

ADDITION TO THE ESSAY ON FAIRIES. 

That the manner in which the supposed 
existence of fairies as supernatural beings 
is accounted for here, is not destitute of 
probability, the following note, taken from 
Mr. Scott's Minstrelsy, Vol. II., p. 176, 
will shew : — 

" Perhaps in this (of Gyrfing), and si- 
" milar tales, we may recognise something 
" of real history. That the Fins, or an- 
" cient nations of Scandinavia, were driven 
" into the mountains by the invasion of 
" Odin and his Asiatics, is extremely pro- 
" bable. It is, therefore possible, that in 
" process of time, the oppressed Fins may 
" have been transformed into the super- 
" natural Duergar (Elves). A similar 
" transformation has taken place among 
" the vulgar in Scotland, regarding the 
" Picts, or Pecks, to whom they ascribe 
" various supernatural attributes. 

x 



306 POPULAR ANTIQUITIES, 



ADDITION TO THE ACCOUNT 

OF 

ST. ALMEDHA. 



In my translation of the British Chro* 
nicle, (Col. Camb., page 52, Note 2), I 
have observed, that from an expression in 
the text respecting masons, it seemed pro- 
bable to me, that the artificers of Britain 
were formed into companies in the early 
time ; and the processions of such com- 
panies, though made religious processions 
in the times of Christianity, are, it may be 
presumed, of much more ancient date. 
The latest that I have heard of in this 
country, is that known by the name of the 
Shrewsbury Show, of which the following 
account is given in one of the best local 
histories that has come to my knowledge, 
though published in 1808, under the 
modest title of, Some Account of the An- 
cient and Present State of Shrewsbury. 



POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 307 






It was, from remote times, customary 
for all the companies to unite in cele- 
" bration of the day of Corpus-Christi, the 
" feast of the holy sacrament of the body 
" of our Lord," the next Thursday after 
Trinity Sunday, " one of the most splen- 
" did festivals of the Roman church, as 
** their grand anniversary. Preceded by 
" their masters and wardens, and graced 
" with colours and devices, the}' attended 
" the bailiffs and members of the corpo- 
" ration, who, with the canons of St. Chad 
" and St. Mary, and the friars of the three 
** convents, and the parochial clergy j fol- 
" lowed the holy sacrament, which was 
" borne by priests, under a rich canopy of 
u velvet or silk, to a stone cross without 
" the town ; probably that called the 
" Weeping Cross. Here all joined in be- 
" wailing their sins, and in chanting forth 
"petitions for a plentiful harvest; they 
" then proceeded in the same order to the 
" church of St. Chad, where each com- 
" pany had a particular place in its choir, 
" and a grand mass was celebrated. Se= 
H vera! of the trades were obliged to pro 

x % 



308 POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 

44 vide necessaries for this procession, par- 
" ticularly wax-tapers, which were carried 
" before the host, and afterwards placed 
11 on the altar of St. Michael, in St. Chad's 
44 church. The festival was followed by 
" three days of disport and recreation, as 
44 they were termed, either in the ensuing 
44 week, or at an early time, agreed upon 
" by the several wardens. These were held 
" on the piece of ground called King's 
" Land, where each company had its 
44 arbour, and where all regaled the bailiffs 
44 and corporation. 

44 After the Reformation, the religious 
44 ceremony was of course abolished; but 
44 one day of entertainment is still observed, 
44 under the denomination of the Show, 
44 and is always on the second Monday 
44 after Trinity Sunday. The companies 
44 assemble about noon before the castle, 
44 accompanied by their wardens, with 
44 flags, devices, and music ; most of them 
" having also a man on horseback, gaudily 
44 dressed, called the king, intended origin- 
44 ally, perhaps, for a representation of the 



POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 309 

" monarchy who granted their charters. 
" Thus the king of the clothworkers per- 
" sonates Edward IV. ; the king of the 
" masons, Henry VIII.; the barbers' march 
" with a queen, perhaps, our celebrated 
" Lady Elizabeth, The devices are era- 
" blematical of the trades. The sadlers 
" lead a caparisoned horse ; the smiths and 
" armourers are preceded by a knight in 
" complete harness ; the hatters and fur- 
" riers by an American Indian ; the skin- 
" ners by the figure of a stag as large as 
" life, attended by huntsmen sounding 
" bugle-horns. The procession moves 
" over the Welsh bridge to Kingsland, 
" where each company has its enclosed 
" arbour or pavilion, adorned with the 
ie arms of the company, in which a cold 
" dinner is prepared. These are visited 
" by the mayor and corporation, who 
'* used formerly to wear their robes of 
" office upon this occasion. They go on 
" horseback, preceded by the beadles, 
" crier,&c, bareheaded, and are hospitably 
" entertained at the arbours of their re- 
spective trades. The day is spent in 



a 



310 



POPULAR ANTIQUITIES, 



u festivity, and, towards the close of the 
" evening, the companies leave this de- 
' c Ughtful spot, returning to the town pvey 
? c the abbey-bridge/' Page 63. 



a 










1.1th veil scuJtp. 



ANCIENT METHOD OF REAPING. 



J^ubTzsJied 36 th Serfj.8i4- ~bv H IfflZuims , Strand . 



POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 511 



METHOD OF REAPING. 



Giraldus Cambrensis says, that the 
Welsh, in his time, seldom reaped with 
the sickle, being able to perform the work 
more expeditiously by a blade of moderate 
length, formed like a knife, and attached 
by a chain at each end, to two handles or 
staves, so as to play freely. Descrip. of 
fVaks, Chap. 17. 

This description is by no means suffi- 
ciently accurate to give any clear idea, 
either of the instrument or the manner in 
which it was employed. But, from the 
following figure, which was drawn from a 
sculpture, on a seat in Malvern church, 
both may be better understood. 

In this sketch, a and b are the two 
staves, c the knife or hook somewhat cir- 
cular, and attached to the end of a, and 
somewhat higher up to b. The stalk of 



312 POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 

the head of corn d, appears to be caught 
between the knife and the lower end of 
the staff 6, and that it was to be cut off by 
drawing up the staff a, as, by that means, 
the stalk would be caught between the 
knife and staff. Still, though perhaps ca- 
pable of improvement, it seems to have 
been but an awkward instrument, and to 
have required some dexterity in the use 
of it. 



POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 313 

ADDENDA 
TO THE ESSAY ON ASTROLOGY. 

When the passage respecting Nostra- 
damus was written, as I had it not then 
in ray power to consult his prophecies, 
the idea of their being founded on astro- 
logical calculations was, to the best of my 
recollection, merely conjectural ; I have 
since found that this was the fact, as it is 
acknowledged by him in dedication to his 
prophecies, and that in this dedication he 
gives us, from his own calculation, founded 
partly on astrological principles, and 
partly (though undoubtedly principally) 
on the book of Revelations, the date of 
the commencement of a great revolution 
in the state of the world, which, consider- 
ing that he wrote in the middle of the 
sixteenth century, may justly be looked 
upon as very remarkable. It will, how- 
ever, be observable, that in the astrological 
part, he has been as much mistaken as to 
his deductions, as he has been near the 
truth, where he has depended on revela- 



314 POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 

tion only. Having stated the positions of 
the heavenly bodies, in a year to which he 
gives no further designation than, that 
there shall be no eclipse, he proceeds, as 
to subsequent events, to give his opinion, 
of part of which the following is a trans- 
lation •-?** 

" In the beginning of this year, a per- 
" secution, more violent than that of 
" Africa, shall afflict the Christian church, 
" which shall continue until the year 1792, 
ic which shall be noted as the renovation 
M of the age the Romans shall begin to 
<* regain power, to dispel some obscuri- 
w ties, recovering somewhat of their an- 
? cient celebrity, though not without great 
" dissensions and continual changes ; then 
? Venice, in great force and power, will 
V soar far above ancient Rome. And 
" at this time, and in these countries, 
" the infernal powers shall excite the 
*' power of its adversaries, which will be 
* the second Antichrist, against the 
« c church, and will persecute the church, 
u and its trueVicar, by means of temporal 
<* kings, who shall be led astray by their 



POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 315 



ignorance, and by tongues that wound 
" more deeply than the sword in the hand 
u of the insane. At length the third nor- 
thern king, hearing the complaint of the 
people of his chief title, shall raise a 
great army, and pass beyond the boun- 
daries of his ancestors, and restore the 
*' greater part (of the troubled world) to 
" its proper state, and the Vicar of the 
" cap (cappe) to his former state, but 
■ c desolate, and then abandoned of all, 
" and the Sancta Sanctorum shall be 
" destroyed by paganism, the Old and 
** New Testament shall be prohibited and 
** burned, after which the infernal prince 
5J shall be antichrist, and once more, and 
" for the last time, all the realms of 
" Christianity and paganism shall tremble 
^ for the space of twenty-five years, and 
" and there shall be the most dreadful 
" wars and battles, towns, cities, and 
" castles, burned, &c. And, after these 
" evils shall have endured long, the age 
*' of Saturn and golden age, as it were, 
M shall be renewed/' 

Propheties de Nostradamus, 
Ed. l2mo. Paris, 1668, 



316 POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 

In the preceding extract it is evident, 
that the prediction as to Venice was drawn 
from his astrological figure, constructed 
for the time, in which the fanciful refer- 
ence of the signs, and planets in them, to 
particular places, was his guide; and, as 
might justly be expected, has proved a 
very fallacious one. The rest seems to 
have been principally derived from Scrip* 
ture, and the close approximation in cal- 
culating the 1 ,^60 years as ending in A. D., 
1792, in which, I believe, he is very nearly 
right, will appear the more extraordinary 
when it is observed, that he dates the dedi* 
cation in June, 1558, when the subject had 
been so little canvassed. 



POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 317 



MARY THOMAS, 

THE FASTING WOMAN, NEAR DOL- 
GELLEY. 



Of the various affections of the physical 
system of the human body, there is, per- 
haps, no one which excites more curiosity, 
or more difficult to explain, than that by 
which life is continued for many years, 
without the degree of sustenance upon 
which, except in a very few instances, the 
continuation of life is known to depend. 
That it should appear supernatural to the 
ignorant is not surprising, when to the most 
learned and ingenious it presents a pheno- 
menon, the possibiliy of which has fre- 
quently been doubted; and as to which, 
so much investigation has been thought 
necessary to ascertain the fact. In cases 
of such rare occurrence, it is of importance 
to the natural history of man, and may be 
so to medical science, to collect as many 
particulars as can be obtained ; and, there- 
fore, though the present instance has been 



318 Popular antiquities. 

noticed by Mr. Pennant long ago, it will 
not be useless to describe the state of the 
same person now after so long an in- 
terval. — Mr. Pennant's is as follows : — 

" In a former visit * to this place, my 
curiosity was excited to examine into the 
truth of a surprising relation of a woman 
in the parish of Cylynin, who had fasted 
a most supernatural length of time. I 
took boat, had a most pleasant passage 
up the harbour, charmed with the beauty 
of the shores, intermixed with woods, ver- 
dant pastures, and corn-fields. I landed* 
and, after a short walk, found, in a farm 
called Tyddyn Bach, the object of my ex- 
cursion, Mary Thomas* who was boarded 
here, and kept with great humanity and 
neatness. She was of the age of forty-seven * 
of a good countenance, very pale, thin, 
but not so much emaciated as might have 
been expected, from the strangeness of the 
circumstances I am going to relate; her 
eyes weak, her voice low ; she is deprived 
of the use of her lower extremities, and 

* July 18th, 1770, 



f POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 319 

ri ■ ■ ■ 

quite bed-ridden, her pulse rather strong, 
her intellects clear and sensible. 

" On examining her, she informed me, 
that at the age of seven, she had some 
eruptions like the measles, which grew 
confluent and universal ; and she became 
so sore, that she could not bear the least 
touch : she received some ease by the ap- 
plication of a sheep's skin, just taken from 
the animal. After this she was seized, at 
spring and fall, with swellings and inflam- 
mations, during which time she was con- 
fined to her bed ; but in the intervals could 
walk about, and once went to Holywell, in 
hopes of cure. 

M When she was about twenty-seven 
years of age, she was attacked with the 
same complaint, but in a more violent 
manner ; and, during two years and a half, 
remained insensible, and took no manner 
of nourishment, notwithstanding her friends 
forced open her mouth with a spoon, to 
get something down : but the moment the 
spoon was taken away, her teeth met, and 
closed with vast snapping and violence. 



320 POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 

During that time she flung up great quan- 
tities of blood. 

" She well remembers the return of her 
senses, and her knowledge of every body 
about her. She thought she had slept but 
a night, and asked her mother whether 
she had given her any thing the day be- 
fore, for she found herself very hungry. 
Meat was brought to her; but, so far 
from being able to take any thing solid, 
she could scarcely swallow a spoonful of 
thin whey. From this time, she continued 
seven years and a half without any food, 
or liquid, excepting sufficient of the latter 
to moisten her lips. At the end of this 
period, she again fancied herself hungry, 
and desired an egg, of which she got down 
the quantity of a nut-kernel. About this 
time, she requested to receive the sacra- 
ment; which she did, by having a crumb 
of bread steeped in the wine. She now 
takes for her daily subsistence a bit of 
bread, weighing about two pennyweights 
seven grains, and drinks a wine-glass of 
water ; sometimes a spoonful of wine : but 
frequently abstains whole days from food 



POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 321 



and liquids. She sleeps very indifferently ; 
the ordinary functions of nature are very 
small, and very seldom performed. Her 
attendant told me, that her disposition of 
mind was mild ; her temper even ; that 
she was very religious, and very fervent 
in prayer : the natural effect of the state 
of her body, long unembarrassed with the 
grossness of food, and a constant aliena- 
tion of thought from all worldly affairs. 
She, at this time (1786), continues in the 
same situation, and observes the same 



regimen/' * 



Not having been able to see this wo- 
man myself, I requested a friend who 
had the opportunity of calling upon her 
to do so, and transmit an account of her 
to me. This he very obligingly has done 
as follows : — 

"Dear Sir, August 31, 1812. 

" I had not much difficulty in finding 
out the subject of your inquiry, as she is 

* Mary Thomas is still (Dec. 1809) living: but, for some 
time, has taken as much nourishment as could be expected 

Y 



322 POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 

lodged in a cottage on the road between 
Dolgelley and Ynysfaig. Her name is 
Mary Thomas, and she is eighty-seven 
years of age, since Epiphany last (in 
Welsh Ystwyll), a favourite date of our 
countrymen. Her first appearance was, to 
me, frightful enough, as her features are 
peculiarly large, and the skin of her face 
is lank or leathery, and pallid. The ears, 
eyebrows, and mouth, are all prominent ; 
indeed, the head altogether seems larger 
than that of any other I ever noticed, at 
that time of life. Her mental powers are 
tolerably good, and particularly so at her 
age. She says, that she was born free from 
any natural defect, and continued until 
ten years old in good health, when she 
had a very dangerous fever, which left her 
afflicted in her limbs. About her twentieth 
year she was taken by her parents to Holy- 
well, for the recovery of her health; but 
returned without any benefit. She was 



at the advanced age of eighty-five years, sixty-five of which 
she had been confined to her bed. Her intellects are 
perfectly clear. In 1806 she remembered and spoke with 
pleasure of Mr. Pennanfs visit to Cylynin* 



POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 323 

about forty years of age, I believe, when 
she commenced her fasting life, and for 
ten years, she says, she took no nourish- 
ment; but had her lips occasionally 
wetted with sugar and water. This state 
of her life was called by the country 
people, Gweledigaeth, or * Trance ; but I 
did not find that she remembered any thing 
particular during its continuance. The 
first solid morsel she ate upon her restora- 
tion, she remembers receiving from the 
hands of Mr. Lloyd, the clergyman of the 
parish. Since her return from Holywell 
she has ever been bed-ridden ; though fre- 
quently removed from one house to an- 
other. Her present sustenance is a shilling 
loaf of the finest bread per week, taken in 
ale, of which also she has a shilling's worth 
weekly. She is nearly double in bed, and 
her arms are nothing but skin and bone. 
She has been for these many long years 



* This expression evidently relates to the time when she 
remained insensible, which, according to Mr. Pennant's 
account, she did for two years and a half ; after which she 
recovered the use of her senses, and the knowledge of every 
body about her. See his Tour, Vol. II. p. 262. Ed. 8vo 4 
London, 1810. 

y 2 



HI 



324 POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 

supported by the parish of Cylynin, at the 
rate of two shillings per week. Besides 
this, however, she has received a good 
deal from her curious visitors, particularly 
in the summer season. The family of Ar- 
thog, which is close by, is also very chari- 
table to her. I do not find that she be- 
longs to any particular religious sect, but 
many good neighbours often read religious 
books to her, with which she is much 
pleased. I must not omit a report of the 
neighbours, that, during the early fever of 
which I spoke above, she was, at one time, 
supposed to be dead, at which time her 
mother earnestly exclaimed, in a wish to 
God, to have her any how restored to her, 
and in this condition she has remained. I 
remarked, that she has a strong desire to 
represent herself as a wonder. The people 
of the house know not when, or how much 
at a time, she eats, as she helps herself at 
pleasure from a box within her reach. 

" I am, &c." 

To this account I have only to add, that 
this woman died last year, viz. 1813. 



POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 325 

During the year 1811, another case of 
the same kind, has much attracted the 
notice of the public, and the several ac- 
counts published leave no doubt of the 
fact. This is the case of Anne Moore, of 
Tetbury, who, for several years, is known 
to have existed, though not absolutely, 
without food, as she pretended ; yet, even 
during the examination which proved the 
imposture, upon so small a quantity of 
aliment, for so long a time, as still to ex- 
hibit a surprising instance of abstinence, 
and such as the human body, had there 
been no disorder affecting it, seems to be 
incapable of. I am, therefore, inclined to 
assent to an opinion lately given by a 
writer in the Gentleman's Magazine, that 
an extraordinary abstinence, originally 
caused by disease, was attempted to be 
continued by imposture. The following 
particulars are taken from the Monthly 
Magazine for August, 1811, which are also 
confirmed, by an account given in the Ma- 
gazine for October of the same year, " She 
" can sit up in her bed, read her Bible 
" and her Prayer-book, with the assistance 
" of glasses ; and work at intervals at her 



326 POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 

" needle. Her memory is strong. In re- 

" spect to the use of her frame, all the 

" lower parts, up to her body, are useless, 

" and totally dead. Her legs are bent 

" under her, and her sinews grown stiff; 

u her voice is low and faint, but accu- 

V rately distinct; she takes snuff, and now 

•' is in her fiftieth year/' 

Upon a comparison of these two cases 
it appears, that the abstinence did not 
impair the mental powers, the eye-sight, 
or the hearing ; but that it did strongly 
affect the lower parts of the body, so as 
to contract the legs ; perhaps, in conse- 
quence of their being deprived of nourish-^ 
ment, the functions of the parts which 
convey nourishment being weakened, and 
perhaps gradually obstructed by callosities; 
and the consequences in this respect ought 
to be a serious warning of the danger of 
such attempts to endure severe absti- 
nence. 

Even under all the circumstances of 
the two cases, and, admitting that some 
nourishment was taken in both, the 



POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 327 

eagerness to prove the imposition in the 
latter, and the abrupt dereliction of in- 
quiry when the pretence of the woman 
was found not to be true in its whole ex- 
tent, can hardly be approved of as judi- 
cious or philosophical. It need not lessen 
the indignation justly excited by imposi- 
tion, because the artifice by which the 
imposture was carried on, is made a fur- 
ther subject of inquiry ; the imposture, as 
far as the conduct of the person deserved 
the name, cannot be excused, and ought 
not to be palliated ; but, if inquiry should 
ascertain, that the human body may be so 
affected by a peculiar disease, as to re- 
quire a comparatively insignificant portion 
of food for a great length of time, the fact 
would be as interesting, as curious in it- 
self; and might lead to important conse- 
quences. In Mr. Pennant's account of 
Mary Thomas, two other instances of long 
abstinence are adduced, and he reasonably 
supposes a peculiar disease to have oc- 
curred in each of those cases ; and, though 
the digestion of food is, in general, neces- 
sary to the preservation of life, yet, if the 
appetite cease, and the digestive and 



328 POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 

evacuant functions, especially insensible 
perspiration, be repressed, it may still be a 
question, whether the blood, remaining in 
the same state nearly, may not sufficiently 
perform its office for the mere support of 
animal life for a great length of time, 
though it may not supply sufficient nou- 
rishment to the body. That the body was 
without sufficient nourishment, was evident 
in all these cases, from the contraction of 
the limbs. Whether the supposition I 
have made may afford any grounds for 
the belief of the existence of such a pecu- 
liar disease, it is not my office to deter- 
mine. That there are artificial methods 
of preventing hunger for some days is well 
known. The Indians of America do it by' 
pills, composed of tobacco and lime prin- 
cipally ; and I have been told, that a coun- 
tryman of mine, a man of real genius and 
singular resolution, has walked upwards 
of one hundred and fifty miles, without 
any other sustenance than a few drops of 
laudanum, when the sensation of hunger 
came on. He was, however, much re- 
duced in body by the journey. Certainly 
a composition which, with the power of 



POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 329 

suppressing appetite, should combine some 
nutritious substance in a small compass, 
might occasionally be of great use. Por- 
phyry, in his life of Pythagoras, says, that 
this philosopher made use of compositions 
to prevent hunger and thirst. That to 
prevent hunger was made thus : " He 
took melon-seeds, sesamum, the coats of 
squills, washed till perfectly cleansed from 
their clammy juice, asphodel flowers, 
leaves of mallow, and meal of wheat- 
barley and vatches, of each an equal 
weight, all of which being pounded toge- 
ther, he made into a mass, by adding 
honey of Hymettus. For preventing thirst, 
he took the seed of cucumbers, pulp of 
raisins freed from the stones, coriander- 
flowers, seeds of mallows and purslain, 
scraped cheese, meal of parched-barley, 
and cream, and made them into a mass 
with the honey of importation. 

" These," he said, " were prescribed 
by Ceres to Herculus, when he was sent 
into the deserts of Lybia ; and by the use 
of them he kept his body constant] y in the 
same state." 



330 POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 

What, or whether any, attention may 
be due to these prescriptions, I know 
not; but, it may not be improper to ob- 
serve, that the flowers of the coriander 
are too strong an opiate to be trifled 
with. 



POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 331 



GAME OF KNAPPAN. 



An Account of an ancient Game, formerly 
used in Pembrokeshire, South Wales, (and 
not till of late years entirely disused in 
some parts of it), from a Manuscript in 
the Reign of Queen Elizabeth. By one of 
that Country, who had himself been often 
an Actor in it. 

* Being drawne to speake of the exer- 
cise of the bodie, I cannot overpasse a 
game used in f one parte of Pembroke- 

* To account for this abrupt beginning, it will be per- 
haps necessary to observe, that the present paper is only 
a part of a Tract, on the gymnastic exercises of the county 
of Pembroke, at the time it was written, which, on a future 
occasion, may be presented to the public. It is hoped no 
apology will be required, for giving it in the ancient spelling 
of the original. 

-}- Particularly in the hundred of Kernes, where the 
genuine British character and spirit, notwithstanding the 
Norman and Flemish intrusion, maintained its ground to 
the last, and is to this day discovered in greater purity, both 
with respect to the language, and the manners of the in- 
habitants, than in any other district of the county. 



332 POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 

shire, among the Welchmen, both rare to 
heare, troublesome to describe, and pain- 
full to practise; yet, for the raritie thereof, 
I crave pardon to trouble you, and, though 
somewhat long, yet as brieffe as I may. 
This game is called Knappan, and not un- 
fitly, as shall be shewed. The game is 
thought to be of great antiquitie, and is 
as followeth. 

The ancient Britaines, being naturally 
a warlike nation, did, noe doubt for 
the exercise of their youth, in tyme of 
peace, and to avoyd idlenes, devise games 
of activitie, where ech man might shewe 
his natural prowes and agility, as, some 
for strength of the body, by wrastling, 
lifting of heavie burdens ; others for the 
arme, as in casting the barre, sledge-stone, 
or hurling the bowle or ball ; others y 4 ex- 
celled in swiftnes of foote, to wynne praise 
therein by running, and surely for the 
exercise of the partes aforesayd, this 
Knappan was prudentlie invented, had 
y e same continued without abuse thereof, 
for in it beside the exercise of the bodily 
strengthe, it is not without resemblans of 



POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 333 

warlike providence, as shall be hereafter 
declared ; and first, before I describe you 
y e play, I will let you knowe that this 
Knappan hapneth and falleth out to be 
by two meanes, the one is a setled or 
standing Knappan, the daie and place 
being knowne, and yearly haunted, and 
observed. Of these Knappan dayes in 
Pembrokeshire, were wont to be five in 
number, the first at the Burye sandes, be- 
tween the parishes of Nevarne and New- 
porte, upon Shroft-tuesday yearly ; the 
second at Pont G} r non on Easter-monday, 
between the parishes of Meliney and 
Eglwyserrowe ; the third, on Low Easter- 
day, at Pwll du in Penbedw, betweene the 
parishes of Penrith and Penbedw ; the 4th 
and 5th was wont to be at St. Meigan's 
in Kemes, betweene Kemes men on the 
one parte, and Emlyn men, and the men 
of Cardiganshire with them, of the other 
parte; the first upon Ascension day, the 
other upon Corpus Xti day; and these two 
last were the great and mayne playes, 
farre exceeding any of the former in mul- 
titude of people; for at these places there 
hath often tvmes been esteemed two thou- 



334 



POPULAR ANTIQUITIES 



sande foot, beside horsemen. And at these 
dayes and places, were these games wont 
yerely to be exercised without any match 
making or appointment ; and therefore I 
calle these standing Knappans ; other the 
like plays would often times be, by makeing 
of matche betweene two gentlemen, and 
that at such holy-day or Sonday as pleased 
them to appointe, the tyme and place, 
which most commonly fell out to be the 
greatest plaies ; for in these matches, the 
gentlemen would divide the parishes, hun* 
dreds, or shires, betweene them, and then 
would eche laboure to bring the greatest 
number, and would therein entreate all his 
friendes and kinsmen in every parish to 
com and brin his parish wholly with him, 
by which meanes great numbers would 
most usually meete, and therefore against 
these matches there would alsoe resorte to 
the place, divers victuallers, w th meate, 
drinke, and wine of all sortes, alsoe mer- 
chants, mercers, and pedlers, would pro- 
vide stales and bothes to shewe and utter 
theire wares ; and for these causes some 
to play, some to eate and drinke, some to 
buy, some to sell, others to see, and others 



POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 335 

to be seen, (you knowe what kind I meane) 
great multitudes of people would resorte 
beside the players ; they contende not for 
any wager or valuable thinge, but only for 
glory and renown, first for the fame of 
theire countrey in generall, next every 
particular to wynn prayse for his activitie 
and prowes, which two considerations 
ardently enilarne the mindes of the youth- 
ful people, to strive to the death for glory 
and fame, which they esteeme dearer unto 
them than worldlie wealthe. Their mat- 
ches are commonly made without stint of 
number, but as they happen to come, 
wherein alsoe appeareth a policie, which 
shall be shewed hereafter, for the weaker 
number to save the glory of their countrey 
againest the greater multitude. 

The companiones being come together, 
about one or two of the clock in the after- 
noone, beginneth the play in this sorte : 
After a crye made, both parties drawe to- 
gether into some plaine, all first stripped 
bare, saving a light paire of breeches, 
bare headded, bare bodied, bare legges 
and feete, their cloathes being layd toge- 



336 POPULAR ANTIQUITIES* 

ther in greate heapes, under the charge of 
certen keepers, appointed for the purpose, 
for if he leave but his shirte on his backe, 
in the furie of the game it is most com- 
monly torne to peeces ; and I have alsoe 
seene some long locked gallants trymly 
trimmed at this game, not by powling, 
but by pulling theire haire and beardes ; for 
washing balles the barber useth but his 
fistes, and insteede of warme water, taketh 
luke-warme bludd out of the nose, mouth, 
and face, of the younker. This kinde of 
trymming they all doe gratis, without 
asking any thing for their paynes. 

The foote companyes thus meeting, 
there is a round bowle prepared of a rea- 
sonable quantitie, soe as a man may holde 
it in his hand, and noe more ; this boule is 
of some massiewood, asboxe, ewe, crabb, 
or holy-tree, and should be boyled in tal- 
lowe for to make it slippery, and hard to 
be holden : this boule is called Knappan, 
and is by one of the company hurled bolt 
upright to the ayere, and at the falle, he 
that catcheth it, hurleth it towardes, the 
countrey he playeth for, (for gole or ap- 



POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 337 

pointed place there is none, neither need- 
eth anie), for the play is not given over 
untill theKnappan be soe farre carried that 
there is noe hope to returne it backe that 
night ; for the carrying it a mile, or twoe 
miles, from the first place, is not losing of 
the honour, soe it be still followed by the 
company, and the play still maintayned ; 
it is oftentymes seene the chase to followe 
two miles and more in heat of course, 
both by the horse and foote. The Knap- 
pan beinge once cast furth, you shall 
see the same tossed backwarde and for- 
warde, by hurling throwes in straunge 
sorte; for in three or foure throwes, you 
shall see the whole body of the game re- 
moved half a myle and more, and in this 
sorte it is a straunge sight to see a 1000 
or 1500 naked men to come neere together 
in a cluster in followinge the Knappan, as 
the same is hurled backwarde and forwarde; 
there are, beside the corps or mayne bodie 
of the play, certaine scoutes or fore- 
runners, whose charge is alwaies to keepe 
before the Knappan which way so ever it 
passes; these alwaies be of the adverse 



338 POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 

partie, between the other partie and home, 
least by surreption the Knappan should be 
snatched by a borderer of the game, and 
soe carried away by foote or horse. To 
those scouts you shall all day heere the 
bodie of the mayne plaie crie, with loude 
voyces, Cadw 61, that is, Look well to their 
backs, as though theire cheefe care lay in 
that pointe, as it doth in deede. If the 
Knappan come into the hands of a lustie 
hurler, he throweth the same in a wonderful 
sorte towardes his countrey, further than 
anie man would judge the strength of the 
arme were able ; if it hapneth to the handes 
of a goode footeman, he presently sengleth 
himselfe and runneth, and breaketh out 
of the bodie of the game into some plaine 
grounde in the swiftest sorte he can, which 
beeinge perceaved, all the companie fol- 
loweth where the good footemanshipp of 
all the companjr is plainlie descerned ; 
being a comfortable sight to see 5 or 600 
good footemen to follow in chase a myle 
or two, as a greyhound after a hare, where 
you shall see some gaine in running upon 
his precedentes ; some forced to come be- 
hinde those that were once foremost, which 



POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 339 

greatly delighteth the beholders, and 
forceth them to follow likewise, to see the 
pleasure of the chase : and thus the one 
seeketh to wynn honor by hys footeman- 
ship untill he be overtaken by a better 
runner, or encountered by one of the 
scoutes, which will not faile to meete him ; 
and when he seethhimselfe neere surprised, 
or that his breathe or legges faile him, he 
hurleth the boule forward towards his 
countrey with a greate violence, and per- 
chance it lighteth to some of his fellowes, 
who caryeth the same as farre againe, 
which notwithstanding is not given over as 
long as the mayne bodie is any thing neere 
at hand ; and when the boule hapneth to 
one of the contrarie parte, it cometh back 
againe as fast : and in this sorte you shall 
in an open feeld see 2000 naked people 
followe this boule backwarde and for- 
warde, Est, West, South, and North ; soe 
that a straunger that casuallie should see 
such a multitude soe ranging naked, would 
thinke them distracted. It is straunge to 
behold with what egerness this play is 
followed ; for, in the furie of the chase, 
they respect neither hedge, ditch, pale, or 

z 2 



340 



POPULAR ANTIQUITIES 



walle, hille, dale, bushes, river, or rocke, 
or any other passable impediment ; but all 
seemeth plaine unto them, wherein alsoe 
they shewe suche agillitie in running, such 
activitie in leaping, such strength and skil- 
full deliverance in hurling, such bouldness 
in assaulting, such stoutness in resisting, 
such polliciein inventing, such skill in pre- 
venting, as taking them out of theire 
game, they are not able to performe or in- 
vent halfe the prowes or devises shewed in 
the same; a thing much noted of men of 
judgement. The horsmen have monstrous 
cudgelles, of three foote and a halfe long, 
as big as the party is well able to weld, and 
he that thinketh himselfe well horsed, 
maketh meanes to his friends of the foot- 
men to have the Knappan delivered him, 
which being gotten, he putteth spurres, 
and away as fast as the legges will cary. 
After him runneth the rest of the horsmen ; 
and if they can overtake him, he sum- 
moneth a delivery of the Knappan, which 
should be thrise, by lawe of the game ; but 
now they scarse give it over till he strike, 
and if he held the Knappan, it is lawfull 
for the assaliant to beat him with his cod- 



POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 341 

gell till he deliver it ; the best of foote 
troupes alsoe will followe the horse, who 
are soe well enseyned by the often exercise 
of this game, as that when the horsmen 
misse to fetch up the Knappan, the foote 
will often recover the same, and will in 
heate of chase followe the Knappan two 
or three myles, till the horse be spent, and 
will bringe backe the Knappan when it is 
out sigh and past hope. This exercise, 
if due orders were observed, and the abuses 
reformed, were a most warlike exercise, 
both for horse and foote ; but the dis- 
orders are soe increased, that the play is 
banished and almost forsaken ; for, by the 
anciente custome of the play, the footmen 
were not to use any thinge but the bare 
fiste, neither was it permitted to the hors- 
men to come amonge the foote troupes ; 
for that the footmen playing all bare 
footed, may receve great annoyance by 
the horse, and therefore it was permitted 
for the foote to chase the horsmen from 
among them by hurling stones at them ; 
alsoe the horsmens cogell was to be assised 
by drawing it throwe a ring, made for the 
purpose, and the same to be of hasell, 



342 POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 

■■ l —3———— I . 

soe as the same might harme, but not 
mightilie hurte any person ; alsoe it was 
not lawfull to strike anie man having the 
Knappan ; but after three summons or 
demandes to hurle of the Knappan, which 
if he did deliver from him, he was to rest 
in peace, and free from the bastinado, 
neither might anie horsman or foot be 
assaulted that had not the Knappan, nor 
longer to be cogelled then he held the 
same. These and divers other good ordi- 
nances, as the reporte goeth, hath been 
belonging to this game in old tyme ; but 
now at this playe privat grudges are re- 
venged, soe that for every small occasion 
they fall be the eares, which being but 
once kindled betweene two, all persons of 
both sides becom parties, soe that som- 
tymes you shall see 5 or 600 naked men 
beating in a cluster together as fast as the 
fistes can goe, and theire parte must be 
taken, every man with his company, soe 
that you shall see two brothers, the one 
beating the other, the man the master, and 
friend against friend ; they nowe allsoe will 
not sticke to take upp stones, and there 
with in their fistes beat theire fellowes^ 



POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. o^o 

the horsmen will intrude and ride into the 
footmen's troopes, the horsman choseth 
the greatest cudgell he can gett, and the 
same of oak, ashe, blackethorne, or crab- 
tree, and soe huge as it were able to strike 
down an ox or horse ; he will alsoe assalt 
any for privat grudge, that hath not the 
Knappan, or cogell him after he hath 
dealt the same from him ; and when one 
blowe is given all faleth by the eares, each 
assaulting other with these unreasonable 
cogells, sparing neither head, face, nor 
anie parte of the bodie ; the footmen fall 
soe close to it, being once kindled, as 
they wholly forgett the plaie, and fall to 
beating till they be out of breath, and 
then some number holde theire handes 
upp over theire heads, and crye Heddwch, 
Heddwch, that is, Peace, Peace ; and often 
tymes this parteth them, and to theire 
plaie they goe anewe ; neither may there 
be anie looker on at this game, but all 
must be actors; for soe is the custome 
and curtesie of the plaie : for if one that 
cometh with a purpose onely to see the. 
game, be he foote or horsman, when the 
multitude shall enclose him in, as ofteij 



344 POPULAR ANTIQUITIES, 

tymes in following of the boule is scene 
to happen, and then the looker on, being 
in the middest of the troupe, is made a 
player, by giving him a bastonado or two, 
if he be on horse, and by lending him 
halfe a dozen cuffes if he be on foote ; 
this much may a straunger have of cur- 
tesie, although he expect nothing at their 
handes. 

You shall see gamesters returne home 
from this playe, with broaken heads, black 
faces, brused bodies, and lame legges ; yett 
laughing and merily jesting at theire 
harmes, telling theire adversaries how he 
brake his head, to another that he strocke 
him on the face, and how he repayed the 
same to him againe, and all this in good 
myrth, without grudge or hatred ; and if 
any be in arrereges to the other, they score 
it up till the next playe, and in the meane 
tyme, will continue loving friendes ; 
whereas, if the least of these blowes be 
offered out of this playe, it presentlie 
breedeth unquencheable quarrells; by this 
you see the horsman's game, is right horse 
playe, and their lawe plain Stafford lawe, 



POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 345 

If the one partie perceive itself to be 
overmatched in number, which is knowne 
by the over manie throwes on that side, 
and so for feare to loase the honor of that 
dayes worke, theire pollicie is to make as 
manie thronges and stopps as they can, 
which in Welsh they call *Cade, which is 
to stoppe and hould the boule from plaie, 
and is don in this sorte : one of the weaker 
side, hapning on the Knappan, clappeth 
the same ag* his belly, holding it fast with 
both his handes, another of his company 
claspeth him aboute the mydle, turning 
face to face, soe then is the Knappan in 
fastness betweene both theire bellies, and 
then cometh more of the same syde, and 
layeth gripes on, and round about them 
both, soe that you shall see a 100 or 120 
thus clustered together, as bees when a 
swarme is knitt together, the boule being 
in the middest of them, which the other 
partie seeketh to open or undoe by haling 
and pulling, but in vayne soe long, till the 
first men be out of breath, and can endure 



* I presume the Author means Cad, which is the impera- 
tive of Cadw, to keep, or hold fast. 



346 POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 

this labour noe longer; thus you shall have 
the boule stopped a quarter of an houre, 
and then another company undertaketh 
the like toyle, and thus by 8 or 9 throngs, 
they will wsare out the daye, and give 
over playe without disgrace to themselves 
and theire countrey. 

The throwes which are made in this 
game, and which are straunge to beholde, 
be called by the name of *Llyw or Llywo, 
which is not to be applied to any kind of 
throwing, but of the Knappan onely, which 
Virgil, in describing this game, termeth 
"Magno ingyro fy curvatis spaciisj" by 
reason of the great compass which the 
boule maketh in flieing. 

This playe of Knappan seemeth to be 
an ancient exercise, descended to us 
Welshmen from our first progenitors the 
Trojans; for the heroicall poet Virgil, in, 
describing the rage of Queene Amata, wife 

* I cannot discorer the affinity between Llyw and (as I 
apprehend it should be written) Llywio, and throwing, unless 
it signify, that the throws in this game govern it ; the whole 
seeming to depend on them. 



POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 547 

to King Latinus, being enraged by poyson 
of Alecto for the intended marriage of her 
Lavinia with our ancient progenitor jEneas, 
could not better describe the same, then 
by comparing her madd rage to the fury 
of this game : 

" Immensam fine more furit, lymphata per urbem 
Ceu quondam forte volitans subverbere turbo 
Quem pueri magno in gyro vacua atria circum 
lntenti ludo exercent ille actus habena 
Curvatis fertur spaciis, stupet inscia turba 
Impubesque manus mirata volubile buxum. 
Dant animos plagge, non cursu segnior illo 
Per medias urbes agitur." 

Virgil ^Eneid. 7th lin. 377. 

Which, to interprets I will use the 
wordes of oure countre} 7 man and worthie 
scholar* Mr. Doctor Phaer, in his transla- 
tion of that author, which are these : 



* Doctor Phaer was a physician ; and I believe the first 
of his family who resided in Pembrokeshire, being the son 
of Thomas Phaer, of Norwich, Esq., by Clara, daughter of 
Sir William Goodyear, knight, of London. He married 
Anne, daughter of Thomas Walter, alderman, of Carmar- 
then, by whom he left two daughters ; he translated Virgil 
! n his retirement on the banks of the Tivy, and was buried 
at Kilgerran church. In an old manuscript by me, I find 
this brief character of him : " Thomas Phaer, doctor of 



348 POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 



'* She rayling, rampes, and runnes, and throughethe towne 

she troubleth all, 
Much like as when by strength of sling, is cast a whirling 

ball, 
Whom boyes for their disport, in cloyster wide, or vacant 

hall, 
Intentive drive with noise, it throwen with force, before 

them falles ; 
The careless prease, pursues with wond'ring much, the 

bowle of box, 
From youth to youth that rolles, theire courage kindleth 

more by knoxe, 
None otherwise, and with no lesse concurres, she gads about, 
Through cities, myds, and townes, and people thick, she 

gathereth out." 

And in the margent, Mr. Phaer, being 
as well acquainted with this game, as 
practised in the author, layeth this note 
upon the place : " This playe is used in 
Wales, and the ball is called Knappan," 
whereby he seemeth to understand the 
Knappan nowe used in this countrey, to be 

Physick, a man honored for his learninge, commended for 
his government, and beloved for his pleasante natural con- 
ceiptes. He chose Pembrokeshire for his earthly place,where 
he lived worshipfully, and ended his dayes to the greeffe of 
all good men, at the forest of Kilgerran, being his chosen 
seat* He translated the Eueydos of Virgil, a worke of none 
worthilie commended, though commended of most, shewing 
in the auctor his great skill, learninge, and aptnes of 
nature." 



POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 349 

the same plaie spoken of by Virgil, used 
in ancient tyme among the people of 
Eneas, and our ancient cozens the Cornish 
men, have the selfe same exercise among 
them yett observed, which they call 
Hurling, whereby it seemeth this exercise 
is more ancient than orderly observed. 

Thus having tyred myselfe, in describing 
this unruly playe, I will here ende with a 
merie jeste or two, touching the same 
sporte : On a tyme, a gentleman of good 
note, being desirous to see the game, and 
being well mounted on a fayer gelding, 
made meanes that he had the Knappan 
delivered him, and putt his horse to his 
footmanship, who, farre exceeding any of 
the company for stature and good keeping, 
thought himselfe sure from overtaking; 
but his gelding, falling once out of breath, 
began to slack, and the gentleman was 
overtaken by an old grey-headded countrej 
swayne, hoarse in voyce, and rude in 
maners, mounted upftn a little leane nagg, 
furnished with a padd and coller, but 
better breathed then the stall-fed gelding, 
summoned the gentleman to dele the 



350 POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 

Knappan,who, scorning the fellowe, spurred 
on, and at the third summons, the old 
rider shewed the gentleman the lawe of 
game, and with his cogell, measured the 
breadeth of his shoulders, and againe and 
againe, then on the head, and on as 
fast as he could untill the gentleman 
cryed amayne, and looking aboute, saw 
non but himselfe and this rude Knappaner 
in place, desired him to hold his hande (if 
he were a man) till he might draw the 
Knappan out of his hose, and delivered 
the Knappan to the old man, with Christ's 
curse, and his with it, and soe did this 
old man conjure the fiend out of his hose, 
that soe tormented him, and the gentle- 
man delyvered out of danger; and at his 
coming that night *to his lodging, being a 
brother's house of his, sware the playe was 
aptly called Knappan, for, sayd he, I have 
gotten by it stores of knappes on my head 
and shoulders. — Another young man 
havinge once a horsback, caried away the 
Knappan, which he turned to his greate 
prayse— -the next playe came ; well, to the 
game, assuring himselfe to doe the like, rod 
up and downe a greate parte of the day f 



POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 351 

and missed to have in handling ; whereupon, 
he devysed a waye to deceive the people, 
by making them belevee he had the 
Knappan, singled himselfe out of the 
companie, and in a faire large plaine, put 
his horse to runne away race, which being 
descerned, all the horsmen followed, 
thinking he had the Knappan. In the end 
being overtaken, was summoned to cast 
the Knappan, but he spurred on ; the 
other, in the ende, layd one loade on his 
head and shoulders, till he cried, Leave, I 
have not the Knappan. The other would 
not trust his word, still willed him with 
stripes to lay down the Knappan : then he 
sware by God, he had it not. The other 
would not beleave his oathe without a 
booke, which he had no leasure to hold 
him, layd on soe fast, that he strake him 
downe, and lighting, riffled and rent his 
hose, and cloathes, and then perceived he 
had not the Knappan, sayd he would 
believe hys word Jthe next tyme ; but gave 
him his blessing : that he cryed och I for 
cosening him of a beating in that sorte ; 
and soe he returned to his fellowes, where 
he found the Knappan tossed between 



352 POPULAR ANTIQUITIES 



them, and made his cornplainte to them 
how he had been deceived. — Another 
pretie conceyte, worthe the remembring, 
uttered by one in the yeare 1588, when 
the Spaniards were with theire termed 
(not truely) invincible navy on the coast, 
seeing in the Knappan a multitude of 
horse and footmen, all by the eares fight- 
ing, to number of 6 or 700, whereof most 
were hurt and bloody, asked how this 
^ would be pacified ? Well, said one, this is 
^11 in playe, and will be taken in good 
parte. If this be but playe, quoth the 
other man, I could wish the Spaniardes 
were here to see our playes in England, 
certes they would be in bodily feare of 
our warre. 

Another poore man, A. D. 1587? being 
a yeare of great scarcitie of corne, and 
having gone out of his countrey for w r ant 
of bread, seeing a multitude of naked men 
haling and pulling one at another up and 
downe the fieldes, softer the Knappan, 
never seene by him^'before, asked about 
what they strived in that sorte, was 
answered, they strived who should have 



POPULAR ANTIQUITIES. 353 

the Knappan : what (quoth he) is that 
Knappan? It is, sayd the other, a boule 
of wood little bigger then my fist. O 
fooles ! sayd the other, to keepe such a 
sturre for a peece'of wood ; they would, I 
warrant you, strive mightily, if there were 
a peny loafe of bread cast in among them, 
who should have it. 

This which I have written of this 
Knappan, I writt most as testis oculatus, 
for that I have beene oftentymes an ugent 
and patient at this unruly exercise, and 
often have felt the smarte that I have 
written (especially of the horse playe) ; and 
therefore, as in deedes, I may here con- 
clude with these wordes, " In cujus rei 
testimonium sigilla sua opposuerunt :** which 
signes and seales I carrye in my head, 
jiandes, and other partes of my body. 

Cambrian Register for 1795, page 168* 



TIJE ENPo 



A A 



DIRECTIONS FOR PLACING THE PLATES. 



PAGE 

Fives-playing }> 123 

c Easter-monday * 125 

e The Bidder 1 59 

? The Quintain \6$ 

Singing to the Harp and Dancing .164 

The Funeral 175 

The Fairies 203 

>• City of Troy " 212 

The Bow of War and Peace 301 

Ancient Method of Reaping .#..» 311 



355 



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LIST 



S60 
LIST OF PLATES 



1.— Dolanog Bridge. 

2. — Cader ldris. 

3. — Scene near the Letterheads. 

4. — Plimlimmon Mountain. 

5 — Pont y Cammau. 

6. — Llangollen. 

7. — Rhyad y VVenol. 

8 — Rocks near Holyhead. 

9. — Vale of Festiniog. 
10. — North-East View of Snowdon. 
11. — View near Dyserth. 
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13 — Moel ddu Fawr. 
14 — Bredrfyn Mouutains. 
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16. — View on the Clwyd, near 

Eyarth. 
17. — Bishop's Throne, Anglesey. 
18. — Nant y Bela. 
19. — Cadnant. 

20. — Paris Mines in the yearlsoo. 
21.— Ditto ditto in 18C4. 

22. — Hugh Llwyd's Pulpit. 
23.~-The Severn, near Llanidloes. 
24. — Caergwrle Castle. 
25- — Tarran Rhos y Gareg. 
26. — Eyarth Rocks. 
27. — Estuaries of the Dee and 

Mersey. 
2S. — View on the Elwy. 
29. — Moel y Fammau. 
30. — Cavernous Rocks near Holy- 
head. 
31.— Nant-Ffridd Waterfall. 
32— Cader ldris and Craig y 

Derin. 
33.— The Cnicht. 
3*. — Nant Francon. 
35. — The Skerries Light-House. 
36.— Overshot Mill, near Caer 
Rhun. 



37.— View in Nant hwynen. 

38. — Clwyddian Hills. 

39. — Cwm Llyn Llydaw, &c. with 
the High Peak of Snow- 
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40— The Vale of Mold. 

41.— Bethgelert Church. 

42. — Glyndwr's Parliament-House 

43.— Fall of Rocks. 

44.— Kate of Cymmau's Cottage. 

45. — The Source of the Severn. 

46. — A Cromlech at Ystim Ce- 
gid 

47.— St. Winifred's Well. 

48. — Pont Cysyllty Aqueduct. 

49 — Leoliuus Magnus's Coffin. 

oO. — Ogwen Bank. 

51. — Perilous Situation of Robert 
Roberts. 

52— Shane Bwt. 

53. — Mary Thomas the Fasting 
Woman. 

54. — Emma Dolben. 

55. — The Infant Hercules. 

56.— Bella, the Fortune-Teller. 

57.— Carreg Diddos. 

58. — Holyhead Wake. 

59. — A Visit to Cader ldris. 

60.— Bed of the Tudors. 

61. — Monument of St. Melan- 
ge". 

62— -The Source of the Dee. 

63. — Hallelujah Monument. 

64. — Princess Joan's Coffin-Lid. 

65. — Frontispiece — Cambria. 

€6. — View of Mrs. Piozzi's House. 

67. — The Gates of Leeswood. 

68. — The Monument of Iowerth 
Drwn Dwn. 

69. — View near Dolgelley. 
Ditto near Llangollen. 



70.- 

With other interesting Views and Vignettes. 
(£j* Specimens of the Plates may be seen at No. 11, Strand. 
* # * The Author of this valuable Work is no more. He died at 
Ruthin, in June, 1813, and he was 10 Years in completing the 
Drawings for this Work. 
The Price of the small Paper and Plates, not coloured, will be £5. 5s, 
The Price of the large Royal Paper and coloured Plates will be £10. 10*. 
*** Subscriptions will be received by E. Williams, Bookseller 
to the Duke and Duchess of York, No. II, Strand, London; and by all 
the Booksellers of North Wales, as well as of the United Kingdom. 



Printed by W. Clowes, Northumber- 
land-court, Strand, London. 









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